Vsevolod Jürgenson made his remarks in a Russian-language video which appeared on social media and which urges viewers to vote for EKRE, stating that Ukraine is beyond help given that it is "the most corrupt country in the world" where "99 percent of aid sent gets stolen" and headed up by a president who is a "drug addict", Eesti Ekspress reports (link in Estonian).

Jürgenson added in the video, posted to what Eesti Ekspress says is the largest Russian-language social media group in Estonia, that the aid items can potentially be misappropriated even as soon as they cross the border into Latvia, or in Poland, and well before reaching Ukraine itself.

This also concerns military aid. "The defense ministries of various countries have been sending weapons to the Ukrainian army, but they have been ending up in the hands of criminal groups and are now being used by criminals all over the world," he went on.

"Why do people in Hungary think about their own people, but not in Estonia?" Jürgen asked, answering that the reason is politicians being forced to, by Brussels.

"All" prostitutes and pimps currently active in the Nordic countries are of Ukrainian origin, he added, a phenomenon which he said EKRE's honorary chair Mart Helme had forecast last year.

The video apparently aims to woo Russian-speaking voters ahead of the March 5 Riigikogu election, Eesti Ekspress reports, while Jürgenson names Tallinn Mayor Mihhail Kõlvart (Center) as one leading figure who uses Estonian taxpayers' money to send aid, for instance in the form of buses, to Ukraine at a time when tens of thousands of Estonian citizens are living in poverty.

Jürgenson also names party-mate Kai Rimmel, a local councilor in Jõelähtme and former MP, as the candidate to vote for, though Rimmel sought to distance herself from the association, telling Eesti Ekspress she had not seen the video, but wholeheartedly rejected the statements as reported to her.

The original Eesti Ekspress piece (in Estonian) is here.

Vsevolod Jürgenson is a former (until 2021) Center Party member, who ahead of the 2017 local elections pledged a free taxi ride – he was plying his trade as such in the Tallinn district of Mustamäe at the time – to all those who shared his campaigning posts on their own social media space.

Editor's note: This article was amended to reflect the fact that Jürgenson was expelled from and by EKRE, following the publication of the Eesti Ekspress piece. At the time of writing, he was reportedly still a party member, though not a candidate at the forthcoming election and not an elected representative at any level.

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