Speaking at the annual Lennart Meri Conference (LMC) in Tallinn Friday, the president stated that political leadership in the democratic world depends on its citizens and their confidence in the valus of freedom and their confidence in free states' ability to defend those values and promote them globally.

Speaking at the LMC's evening dinner, Kaljulaid said: "A global posture of the democratic alliance. A global posture of these nations and leaders who believe in universal human rights, in universal right for every democratically elected government to choose independently the best future for their people, independent of the fact whether they are able to forcefully defend that right."

The most important element of our security is not a particular deterrence measure, a specific weapons system or an arms control treaty. It the posture of democratic countries and their will to defend their values.#LennartMeriConference2021

Full speech: https://t.co/cQ5iQS8Ixd pic.twitter.com/zJAOl3rLta

— Kersti Kaljulaid (@KerstiKaljulaid) September 4, 2021

History tests constantly whether the leaders of free nations are truly and sincerely defending our way of life, she went on. "One of the most visible tests is our ability to support the ambitions of those who want to join our universe, but are held back by fateful turns of history: Pressing examples in Europe include Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, and the western Balkans."

The outgoing president called Lithuania's stance on the situation in its neighbor to the east, Belarus, and its championing that country's citizens, heroic.

Estonia backs that stance she added: "We act, we do not transact our values." 

The 14th annual LMC, organized by the International Center for Defense and Security (ICDS)  (ICDS) continues through Saturday and Sunday.

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