"Estonia cannot legitimize diplomatic relations with an aggressor state, and we have decided not to attend Putin's inauguration ceremony," Tsahkna said via a press representative.

"During a time when Putin is engaged in a war of aggression in Europe, killing and deporting innocent people, while carrying out hybrid attacks against EU and NATO members, we find attending ceremonies that perpetuate his rule to be unthinkable," the foreign minister remarked.

"We have openly and consistently condemned Putin's terror regime in our everyday activities and do not intend to attend festivities in honor of someone who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC)," Tsahkna said.

"The March elections drive in Russia was neither democratic, open, nor fair, which is why the inauguration is just a play being put on by Putin and one Estonia's representatives will not be part of."

Tsahkna said he discussed participation with his colleagues in Latvia and Lithuania, as well as other European countries, on Saturday.

The so-called presidential election in Russia, which European countries did not deem democratic or fair, took place March 15-17 and culminated in Putin winning 88 percent of the vote, according to Russian authorities, which is the best ever result for a post-Soviet Russian ruler.

Following the May 7 inauguration ceremony, Putin will start his fifth term in office scheduled to last six years.

Estonia and Russia pulled their ambassadors from one another's capitals on February 7, 2023 and have mutually cut embassy staff since.

Putin's inauguration ceremony in 2018 was attended by the deputy head of the Estonian Embassy in Moscow, while then Ambassador Simmu Tiik attended the one before that, in 2012.

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