Taro, 43, graduated in journalism from Moscow State University around the turn of the millennium, prompting questions about whether state organs or other organizations in Russia had shown interest in him.

Speaking to "Esimene stuudio", Taro said: "Not in that way. Instead, my life and professional activity in Russia was made as hard as possible. But that period was full of pivotal events which gave me journalistic experience, professional insight into that society, and a perspective on how it changed over those years. I probably know a lot more about the nature of their power structures, the church there, and much more, thanks to the fact that I have that experience from those years."

Host Mirko Ojakivi also asked whether this could be used against him by opposition politicians.

"It seems to me that everything has been explained already. I can only reiterate what has been said. At some point, it will have run its course, I think. And that will probably happen fairly quickly," Taro, who had been an MP before becoming minister, responded.

Regarding whether the current coalition might lean too far right economically, Taro said no coalition can be characterized as such.

He said: "We can't say any coalition leans too far in one direction if it has the support of a parliamentary majority. According to our constitution, if a parliamentary majority is in place, then that coalition is viable. And it's completely logical that ideologically closer partners form coalitions, not those who are at opposing ends. That would be more of a problem for Estonia, where there would be hesitation and conflict between the different sides."

On more concrete matters, Taro said he doesn't understand why the construction of Estonia's border infrastructure has taken so long.

"I would like to get more information in the coming days about what's behind the delays. I've already looked into some of the unfinished border sections and the related sums. Frankly, the figures I've seen seem ridiculous compared to what we invest in national defense. One thing is finding €1.6 billion; another is finding a few tens of millions to finally secure the border properly," he said.

The border infrastructure mostly relates to Estonia's southeastern land border, where fences and other details must be put in place.

The new minister also said he supports initiatives that help reduce traffic fatalities while balancing safety and privacy – referring to controversy over automated speed cameras, which will also spot other traffic infringements.

The Social Democrats' (SDE) board decided on Tuesday to support a constitutional amendment that removes voting rights in local elections from Russian and Belarusian citizens but retains it for stateless individuals, at least for this October's local elections.

This was one of the issues behind the ejection of SDE from office earlier this month.

On this, Taro said: "I think it was a very sensible step on their part — not to get bogged down in domestic politics and not to go against the public's sense of justice," meaning that SDE will not block the constitutional amendment now that they are in opposition.

Former director of the Internal Security Service (ISS) Arnold Sinisalu has said taking away voting rights isn't needed, as it doesn't solve problems but could create new ones.

Taro said: "I believe it certainly gives people who live in Estonia, want to connect with Estonia, and want to be involved in local matters, the motivation to retain that voting right by applying for Estonian citizenship. I truly can't understand those people with 'gray passports.' It's a personal decision whether it's more important to them to travel to Russia or to vote in local elections in Estonia. And I generally don't recommend anyone travel to Russia."

Gray passports are issued to stateless persons residing in Estonia, overwhelmingly Russian-speakers, and serve as travel documents.

SDE is calling for these individuals not to have their voting rights stripped, while Russian and Belarusian citizens ordinarily resident in Estonia would not be able to vote under the planned constitutional amendment.

A native of Võru, Taro also worked as a Moscow correspondent for Õhtuleht, and as Võru and Põlva counties' correspondent for public broadcaster ERR from 2010 to 2015, before starting his political career, initially with Isamaa (then IRL).

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