"At the moment, I don't see a clear goal and politicians are not cooperating. It's all a big palaver and trying to pull the rug out from under each other. It's good that I resigned from the Prime Minister's office in 1997," Vähi, who was prime minister between 1995 and 1997, told Eesti Päevaleht.

Vähi said he does not think there is a crisis in the government. "The crisis is much wider - there is a crisis in society, not only in Estonian society, but also in Europe and America," he said.

Many things are being overdramatized, he added. "There is hysteria at the threat of war, listeria hysteria, everything has to be dealt with and dealt with calmly. I'm an engineer by education and when an engineer has a problem, he takes the machine apart and tries to solve the problem, not screaming or dancing around the broken machine."

Vähi, now 72, noted that there is also some bias in society. "The inclination is that Estonian society is small, everyone knows everyone, and everyone has a history of dating."

Speaking about how to improve Estonian-Russian relations, Vähi said: "Let's start communicating. Just as I did and Kersti Kaljulaid [has done]. The Prime Minister should meet Medvedev - Medvedev is still a person, he is not a bear... Kersti Kaljulaid is a commendable president because she dared to go to Moscow and meet Putin. I commend her for that. We definitely need to work together with Russia."

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