The speech among other things warned of a resurgent Russia even as the Soviet Union had only recently collapsed. This latter event was not the end of the story, President Meri explained.

Three decades later it is time to finally learn from history, to put aside all fear, and together to back fully Ukraine in its fight for freedom, Prime Minister Kaja Kallas (Reform) said this week.

The prime minister made her remarks in a keynote address she gave at the annual Matthiae-Mahl formal ball, which she attended during an official visit to that city Tuesday, meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

The address follows in its entirety.

Dear First Mayor, Federal Chancellor Scholz, Excellencies, President of the Hamburg Parliament, Citizen of Honor Professor Neumeier,

I am honored to address you on this very special occasion.

Back home, at the Tallinn Town Hall is inscribed a sentence in German which illustrates our common Hanseatic spirit: Fürchte Gott, rede die Wahrheit, tue Recht und scheue niemand (English: Fear God, tell the truth, do justice, and be afraid of nobody).

I would like to abide by this centuries-old command and openly tell you the truth as it currently appears to my people, and to myself. I would like to tell you quite openly, as the old maxim on our Town Hall requires me to do, that my people and I watch with a certain concern how little it is realized what is currently brewing in the expanses of Russia.

From a subjective point of view it is understandable that the breakdown of the Soviet Union caused the West to feel a kind of triumph; it is also understandable, subjectively, that the West concentrated all its hopes and empathies on the true or ostensible forces of reform in Russia. This attitude, however, has brought the West to a risk of wishful thinking.

These are not actually my words. These words were spoken 30 years ago in this very room by Lennart Meri, Estonia's first president after we escaped from the Soviet prison and restored our independence.

President Meri was the guest of honor at the Matthiae-Mahl back in 1994.

When I read over his speech before coming here today, I was struck by how much of it still rings true. How he warned against wishful thinking towards Russia, because he knew that Russia had not truly changed. He knew back then that while the Soviet Union had collapsed, its expansionist colonialist ideology never did.

Reading his speech in 2024, on the eve of the second anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, I could not stop thinking about three questions:

What exactly did President Meri say that so upset Putin? It is clear by now that his speech reads like a prophecy of what has gone on since then. Putin's storming out revealed his true colors, very early on. Many just didn't get that message, however, or didn't want to pay it any attention.

Thirteen years later, in 2007, at the Munich Security Conference, and now as Russia's president, Putin outlined his expansionist ambitions very clearly. Georgia, Crimea, and the full-scale invasion of Ukraine followed.

And in the last few weeks, he has been making it loud and clear again that none of his plans have changed.

I come here almost directly from the Munich Security Conference. There, President Zelenskyy rightly posed the main question we should be asking ourselves now: "Please do not ask Ukraine when the war will end. Ask yourself why Putin is still able to continue it."

We need to answer that question – not just in words but actions.

What I missed in Munich this time around was a spirit of triumph.

Estonia's mantra during our Singing Revolution within the Soviet prison was: One day we will win, no matter what (Estonian: Ükskord me võidame niikuinii). This is what we all should be calling for at the top of our voice, for Ukraine, and for ourselves. Without real belief, no real action will follow. It's a losing game to build your strategy upon pessimism.

Thucydides reminded us that the secret to happiness is freedom, while the secret to freedom is courage. This ancient wisdom is also embedded in the Hanseatic spirit "be afraid of nobody" as the writing on the wall, literally, in Tallinn's town hall, recalls to us.

Fear is the trap that Putin has set up against all of us in the free world. Threats by Russian leaders and images of nuclear explosions on Russian state TV are aimed to scare our people and influence our decisions.

By sowing fear, they want to change the perception of war in our societies. By getting rid of political opponents – as Alexei Navalny's death tragically reminds us – they want to kill all hope.

I keep receiving questions about what Putin would do if Russia loses. My answer: We should worry more about what he will do if Russia wins. And it makes no sense to keep asking if Estonia is afraid, or if Poland is next.

Don't forget, that question really is one asking whether NATO will be next. We all have skin in the game. But if Russia is defeated in Ukraine, there is no need to ask this question any more. So let's not blur our focus, but do everything to support Ukraine in pushing Russia back to its own territory.

Let's not repeat the mistakes of the 1930s. Our mantra should be that defense is not escalation. Resistance does not provoke Russia – weakness does.

This was also the very same worry of President Meri when he issued his words of warning back in 1994 in this very hall, and I quote: 'With this approach [of appeasement], one unwittingly becomes an accomplice of imperialist forces in Russia, who believe that they can resolve their country's immense problems by outward expansion and by threatening their neighbors.'

Believe me, a Cassandra-like fate interests no one. Our warnings about Russia's imperialistic ambitions not having ended did not bring us any joy, nor did the realization of that warning coming true. We did this simply because we have first-hand experience with Russia.

We should now learn from history that what happens in one place can rapidly happen elsewhere – unless aggression is stopped, deterred, and contained.

This is a long confrontation. As President Zelenskyy reminded us in Munich a couple of days ago: Dictators don't go on vacation.

Matthias-Tag falls on February 24, the same date as Estonia celebrates its Independence Day. Two years ago on February 24, 2022, Russia initiated a full-scale war against Ukraine. This is a war against the same values that the newly born Republic of Estonia declared in its Declaration of Independence in 1918: The will for freedom and the desire to choose our own future.

And these are the same values that President Meri called to protect in his speech, and I quote: 'Western, and above all German policy, has to make a fateful choice. Either the neo-imperialist policy of a great eastern power will be tolerated, financed, and in the short term, possibly even profited from; that, dear listeners, would be a policy unable to see an inch further than one's nose. Or, the notions of democracy, freedom, responsibility and peace will be helped on the road to success across the whole gigantic area between the Baltic Sea and the Pacific Ocean; if one wants to do that, the democratic West should resolutely contribute to the stability and security of the medium and smaller-sized states to the east of the German border. Here I mean the whole area of Central Europe, which in my view reaches from the Estonian border town of Narva, on the Baltic Sea, to the Adriatic, also including Ukraine.' End of quote.

It is time to learn the lesson and end gray zones in Europe's security. Russia thinks it has taken Ukraine's Euro-Atlantic future hostage. It should have no say over who belongs where. As the leaders of both NATO and the EU have confirmed: Ukraine's future is in both of those organizations.

We must remain brutally honest with ourselves – as long as Russia is still bombing Ukrainian towns and marching through its towns and villages, we have not lived up to our promises and principles. We must tell the truth to ourselves. The truth is that Ukraine will run out of ammunition unless we come up with quick deliveries. Long-term commitments are important, but it is also a fact of war that the side having the most ammunition will win.

Unity is our hardest currency. Together we can help Ukraine win this war. We have the resources, the economic might, the expertise. Our strength outweighs Russia's. Let's not be afraid of our own power.

Dictators also know that democracies have elections. They think that makes us weak, but if we have a clear goal of victory and a winning strategy in place, our democracies are also our strength and force. This means our focus should also be on making sure Ukrainians receive help regardless of party-political distractions and realities within our own countries. Regardless of the comings and goings of elections.

For that, we need to have our public on board, so it is highly important to keep them informed of how our adversaries act and what they think – in short; of what the threats around us are.

Not all intelligence services within NATO share their assessments with the public. Estonian services do it once a year. Why? Because information sharing makes sure the whole of society, including friends and partners abroad are prepared, aware and see the developments in rogue regimes through a realistic lens. Being open is a strength of our societies, it makes it impossible to use a surprise as a weapon. By revealing their methods, we can deter harmful actions and make our societies more resilient against hostile influence. 

This all is even more vital because it has become increasingly clear that the front line of Putin's so-called shadow war runs through the hearts of our own democracies: universities, parliaments, media and other institutions.

The Kremlin's disinformation is reaching wide audiences via social media; it sits literally within our pockets, phones and apps. The aim of Russia's influence operations is to influence democratic decision-making – including decisions we make at the ballot-boxes.

I recently read about the latest example from Germany where a vast anti-Ukraine disinformation campaign via the social media platform X (formerly Twitter – ed.) was uncovered. The target was the support of the German government for Ukraine – more than one million German-language posts were sent, from an estimated 50,000 fake accounts.

One way to interpret it is as a tribute to the leadership that Chancellor Scholz and his government have taken up in support of Ukraine. The Zeitenwende is going ahead with full speed. In democracies, it sometimes takes time to bring about a historic turnaround, but once it does get going, there should be no turning back. In terms of raw numbers, Germany has provided the most aid to Ukraine. from the European countries. Germany has doubled its military aid to Ukraine in comparison with last year. It is also raising defense spending for now and the years to come, and German commitment to defend also the Baltic Sea region has become a lot stronger.

To stand up against evil, one doesn't have to be a hero on the battlefield. We all have the power not to stay silent and take action. This is exactly what 60 professors from the University of Hamburg did back in 2004 when they successfully protested against the decision to give an honorary doctorate to Putin.

To return to where I started – this room, thirty years ago. Listen to Putin's footfalls as he stormed out. Really listen. Are we now going to let him walk all over Ukraine? Are we going to let dictators call the shots? Or are we going to finally learn from history? For that, we need to not be afraid of our own power. Together, we can help Ukraine win its fight for freedom...

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