President Karis said the legacy of the deportations was also relevant in the present day: "Thanks to the cruelty we currently witness right here in Europe, with Russia's aggression and crimes against humanity in Ukraine dismantling the post-Cold War security landscape of Europe."

The president was speaking during a visit to Hiiumaa on Friday.

He stressed that as long as totalitarianism coexists with the democratic supra-national EU and NATO organizations, no one can feel secure. "This is the sad reality we face. Yet we know that neither we nor any of our allies are alone; we are ready together," the head of state went on.

The president noted that Estonia's security architecture should not be viewed as hermetically sealed from, say, that of Germany or Sweden, just as Germany or Sweden's security cannot be seen separately from Estonia's.

"This is the Europe we have stood for and will continue to stand for, and we must work every day towards this goal. Our collective insurance is a democratic Europe which jointly defends its members," the president continued.

"Evil tried to conquer us, to silence our thoughts and voices. But that evil failed. Even in the darkest years, the dream of our own Estonia, our blue-black-white flag, our language, and the books written in that language, lived on in the hearts of many, if more or less concealed: A dream of a free future," President Karis added.

"This national ethos, our national DNA, helped us endure and survive through evil times. In the end, we were stronger than the evil. So now, let us also help Ukraine in this," he concluded.

Friday saw the 83rd anniversary of the June 1941 deportations of over 10,000 Estonians, by the Soviet Union and chiefly to Siberia.

In total, the Soviet regime deported more than 30,000 people from Estonia between 1941 and 1951, nearly 10,000 of whom were children.

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