"I think around one-third of Russian-speaking Tallinn residents are definitely open to the Social Democrats," Ossinovski said in an appearance on ERR's "Otse uudistemajast" on Wednesday. "But how many of them will actually come vote for us – that's up to us."

Commenting on the SDE's efforts to gain more support in the capital, the party's deputy chair noted that it's not possible to gover in Tallinn without addressing Russian-speaking voters.

"That is simply a fact," he emphasized. "And consequently, in order to have a majority coalition, some degree of the Russian-speaking electorate must of course also support the governing coalition. And of course, it's also our goal to engage with these voters."

According to Ossinovski, the SDE nonetheless isn't trying to attract the same people as the Center Party or the Conservative People's Party of Estonia (EKRE), because the Russian-speaking population is not a monolith – especially after Russia launched its full-scale war of aggression in Ukraine.

"We can see that we have Russian-speaking voters who support the party KOOS, and Russian-speaking voters who support the Social Democrats – these are very different people," he said.

"Of course the Social Democrats are prepared to accept the votes of all voters who believe we're doing the right thing," he continued. "But are the Social Democrats trying to appeal to the values of, for example, [KOOS leading figure] Aivo Peterson's voters? No, we're not. Surely such politicians exist in the Center Party – they're more likely to compete for people with perhaps similar ideological views, so to speak. But there are surely tens of thousands of Russian-speaking people in Tallinn who have integrated very well into Estonian society, who share our society's core values, and of course we are talking to them."

The SDE deputy chair acknowledged that according to survey data, Estonia's Russian-speaking population is more conservative in values than Estonians, but added that even so, there are still enough of those who share the Social Democrats' social liberal views.

Changes in Reform not same as what's happening in Center

Commenting on changes taking place in other political parties, Ossinovski said that the changes that have taken place in the Reform Party following former Prime Minister Kaja Kallas' departure are not actually comparable to what's going on in the Center Party, which now counts ex-EKRE politician Jaak Madison among its ranks.

"Under the leadership of the new prime minister [Kristen Michal], they've undoubtedly at least rhetorically focused more on issues like economic development and business than they perhaps did under the previous government," the SDE deputy chair said, describing what he sees going on in the Reform Party.

"The new head of government takes a more direct approach, as he likes to say, regarding several issues which were important to the former prime minister for example, such as environmental and climate issues," he continued. "I think there's a certain shift in rhetoric, so to speak, or political positioning happening to strengthen their position vis-a-vis Isamaa and the right-wing parties. But whether this will be successful or not, only time will tell. I'm not gonna start giving them advice; we are partners, but we're also competitors."

Ossinovski believes that the metamorphosis taking place in the Center Party is in no way comparable to Reform's.

"The Reform Party may definitely be prepared to be more flexible under a relatively pragmatic leader, but certainly not to do a 180 in their positions," he said.

"But what's happening in the Center Party is, I believe, a far more complex process, and how it will end, I guess we'll see," he continued. "The idea that Jaak Madison's voters could support the Madison-Toom two-headed dragon – well, that's very hard to imagine."

The SDE deputy chair said he gets what they're trying to do, but just doesn't believe it will work.

"Based on the attempt to unite people who are more nationalistic, at least in rhetoric, with politicians who in a sense advocate for Russian interests, so to speak," he explained. "[Late longtime Center Party leader] Edgar Savisaar managed to do that, but that was still just one person. Now, as a two-headed dragon, I think the chances of this succeeding are rather slim. But by all means, parties have the right to try anything they want."

Jurtšenko to support city government's interests

Regarding the search for a new city district elder for Tallinn's Lasnamäe District, a position assigned to the Social Democrats in the city's coalition agreement, Ossinovski explained that the party hadn't had a candidate ready to go at the time of the change of power, and they wanted to find someone for the job from outside the party – which is why the appointment of a new district elder has been delayed.

"We weren't certain at the time whether the next coalition under our leadership, or even including us, would succeed or not, nevermind having positions distributed," he said. "Of course, when we managed to get leadership of Nõmme District, where we had someone ready, then there was no question there. In terms of deputy mayors who actually continued in their same positions, then that was clear for us too. But we genuinely did not have a candidate ready to go for Lasnamäe District."

Of course it would have been possible to fill the position with a loyal member of the party, the deputy chair acknowledged. "But what we wanted and still want to do – because we are indeed aiming high in terms of the next elections – was to bring someone from the outside onto the team," he said.

He confirmed that the goal had not been to specifically recruit a member of the Center Party.

Ossinovski also refuted Center Party chair and ex-Tallinn mayor Mihkel Kõlvart's claim that negotiations with Julianna Jurtšenko, who has been nominated as Lasnamäe's next city district elder, had been ongoing for months.

"There's a specific process for how these discussions are held, but no, these discussions definitely did not go on for months," he said. "We kept in touch with Julianna after the fall of the previous coalition, because we've worked with her before – various people, not me, but people in our party. And at some point we got the signal that she was considering quitting the Center Party, and of course we brought up the subject then, but this was moreso a matter of the past few weeks."

Commenting on Jurtšenko's controversial statements about the country's transition to Estonian-language education, which have garnered criticism from Tallinn's other coalition parties, the mayor said that it hasn't been angry criticism, and that he plans to take part himself in a meeting with Jurtšenko and the leaders of the other parties.

"Of course, if our partners have questions, we'll answer them," he said. "But I wouldn't say that this feedback has been angry. There have been doubts raised, and these doubts are in that sense understandable because they stem from things she herself has said in the past. Of course these questions need to be answered inside out. But if the question is what Julianna Jurtšenko will be doing in Lasnamäe, then she will be working on behalf of the city government. All city district elders are directly subordinate to the mayor, and they of course implement the program agreed on by the city government."

Ossinovski also discussed Tallinn's plans to reorganize road construction in the city to ensure that roadwork is completed more quickly. He likewise commented on the verbal spats between deputy mayors Pärtel-Peeter Pere (Reform) and Kristjan Järvan (Isamaa), stating that city government members are allowed to comment on other departments' work, but once a decision has been made by the city government, then everyone must adhere to it.

Wednesday's broadcast of "Otse uudistemajast" also covered topics including energy and electricity prices, including wind farms and the feasibility of building a nuclear power plant.

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