While the world faces a plethora of problems, Estonian foreign policy stands on a strong foundation and is moving forward, following clear goals. Estonia has been the locomotive for many topics and will meet the new foreign policy season with six set priorities.

A Ukrainian victory

Ukraine's victory in the cruel war of aggression unleashed by Russia is Estonia's number one foreign policy goal, with all relevant endeavors serving this greater purpose. Estonia will never accept attempts to redraw national borders by strength of arms. The aggressor must pull back behind its borders and Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty needs to be restored.

Aggression must disappear from the toolbox of international relations, and this will only happen if the aggressor exits the war weaker than it was going in. Only that can send the much-needed global message that initializing hostilities does not pay.

Russia's recent attacks on Ukraine's civilian population and infrastructure show once more that its goals have not changed, and that the EU and NATO must do even more to help Ukraine. Setting all manner of limitations only hinders Ukraine's progress toward victory and in no way lessens Putin's desire to destroy the country.

To facilitate a Ukrainian victory, we will retain recent efforts and step them up, while continuing to brainstorm new and innovative steps. Relevant keywords include ramping up sanctions policy and their more effective enforcement, creating a crimes of aggression special tribunal with the Council of Europe to make sure Russian leaders who unleashed the aggression are held responsible, and isolating Russia on the international arena.

On the other hand, we will continue to provide Ukraine with versatile support. Estonia has pledged 0.25 percent of its GDP for helping Ukraine over the next four years. We are at the forefront of efforts to rebuild Ukraine and support Kyiv's path to the European Union and NATO.

Using frozen assets

As the first country to do so in Europe, Estonia has passed legislation that allows the frozen assets of people and companies that have helped facilitate Russian aggression to be used as a down payment for the damage Russia has done in Ukraine.

We have blazed a trail here too, and we're seeing more and more effort elsewhere in the world to make Russia pay for the destruction it has caused in Ukraine. While decisions have been made to use profits made on frozen assets, our goal is to take matters a step forward. The principal amount of frozen Russian assets needs to be used. Ukraine's needs exceed $500 billion today and could reach as high as $1 trillion. This need should not be covered by Western taxpayers, but instead by the aggressor.

Global partnerships

Estonia has 45 foreign representations, including numerous special representatives, as well as the conviction that we must also talk to countries with which we do not always see eye to eye. The United Nations is of key significance here, bringing together 193 nations and creating a brilliant auditorium for Estonia to explain its view of what is happening in the world. With this in mind, preparations are underway for the opening week of the September UN General Assembly, which will provide the opportunity to talk about our region's foreign and security policy challenges.

On top of that, work is being done to secure for Estonia a place on the UN Human Rights Council for 2026-2028. The organization allows us to represent values that we find important, ensure that international norms stay relevant, promote democracy and through it safeguard Estonian security.

European security architecture

The EU and NATO are the load-bearing pillars of European security architecture. And that is how it must be in the future. Gray zones within Europe create fertile soil for the next conflict, which is why it is important for everyone who is ready and willing to be able to join the European Union and NATO. They undoubtedly include Ukraine.

Speaking of NATO, the alliance has proved in recent years that it can adjust to a changing world and rise to meet new challenges. We agreed at the Washington summit that NATO capability developments will over the next five years concentrate on air defense, indirect fire capacity and ammunition. The allies also approved a pledge to strengthen cross-Atlantic defense cooperation and ramp up production.

But the work does not stop there. In order to really ensure the defense of allies based on plans approved at the Vilnius summit, members will need to increase their defense spending. In order to fill gaps in capabilities, the allies should aim to spend 2.5 percent of GDP on defense, instead of the previous target of 2 percent. We hope to agree on this at the next NATO summit to be held in The Hague in 2025.

It is not difficult for Estonia to be a spokesperson for this topic. We take our defense seriously, with the coming years' investments set to take our defense spending to nearly 4 percent of GDP. This will buy our Defense Forces long-range weapon systems and munitions that will allow us to affect the enemy in their territory.

Hybrid attacks

We need to be prepared for Russia to ramp up its hostile activities not just in Ukraine, but also through hybrid operations aimed against the West. We take such Russian actions very seriously and are taking concrete steps to fend off these hybrid attacks.

We have proposed a European sanctions regime for addressing hybrid attacks and support Chechia's initiative for limiting the movement of Russian diplomats in the Schengen zone. We need to see Russian hybrid attacks integrally and our response needs to be united also if a specific attack targets not us, but one of our allies.

One important preconditions of such unity is publicly talking about Russian attacks as soon as they occur, if and when it is possible considering counterintelligence needs.

Economic certainty and active business diplomacy

Every diplomat is still tasked with fostering business diplomacy. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs plays an important role in attracting major investments and manufacturing economic certainty. The government is focusing on the defense industry and high-value added sectors, such as green and innovative technologies.

In summary, I dare say that Estonia will meet the new foreign policy season with confidence. The challenges we face are serious, while they also provide an opportunity to make Estonia visible and influential in the world through forceful action. Let us fully capitalize on this opportunity.

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