Conservatives Echo Call for Russian Political Activism
A leading IRL member has said his party has new plans in store for reaching out to the Russian community in Estonia.
Recently, the Social Democratic Party was both criticized and applauded for initiating a merger with the Russian Party in Estonia.
Education and Research Minister Jaak Aaviksoo told ETV that, thus far, IRL, which embraces a conservative-nationalist ideology, has not been very successful in catering to Russophone Estonians.
But party politics in Estonia can't be balanced without more participation by Russian-speaking Estonians, Aaviksoo said. "I believe it is a flaw we can fix," he said.
"There was a time when we made an effort [...] But most recently we have somehow forgotten about the necessity to involve Russian-speaking residents in politics," said Aaviksoo, who has not ruled out running for the IRL chair in next month's party elections.
Ott Tammik