The regime under Putin is little different from Tsarist Russia, he added, with the bulk of the populace little more than cattle for the elite to do with as they wished.

"In the Russian Empire, the entire population was divided into two segments: Aristocrats, and serfs;" Laaneots told Delfii (link in Estonian).

"Putin is now demonstrating this very clearly; the Russian people are his serfs whom he commands as he sees fit," he went on.

"There is no logic to his actions; it has been said that he is mentally ill, and this is likely close to the truth. 

"He is even unpleasant to watch and listen to, he is an abnormal person," Laanetos went on, adding that given Putin's actions in destroying civilian infrastructure, slaughtering civilians and blatantly lying about same, through the course of the Urkaine war, he cannot be described as anything other than a terrorist and needs to be called out as such.

This should not extend to ordinary Russians, who as noted are mostly the chattels of the regime in any case, while other democratic countries should be encouraged in applying the terrorist tag to Putin in their public statements also, Laaneots went on.

Laaneots had been unable to sign a bill presented at the Riigikogu earlier in the week, declaring the Russian Federation a terrorist state and signed by 85 MPs at the 101-seat chamber, but only because he was physically away from the Riigikogu and unable to put his name to it, he said, adding that this may have been the reason in the case of the remaining 15 MPs who did not sign.

The original Delfi piece (in Estonian) is here.

Laaneots, 74, was one of the founding-officers of the present day EDF, having previously served in the Soviet Army.

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