Raik says the event later this month is being held by three local churches in cooperation with the city government.

Raik was ousted as mayor following a vote of no-confidence in July, with Jaan Toots (Center) taking her place.

Organizers of the prayer breakfast say both Mayor Toots and council leader Urbo Vaarmann (Plan B) initially considered covering the costs from the city budget.

On October 15, an event called "Palvushommik" ("Prayer Morning") is to be held at Narva Town Hall, organized by Dmitri Andrejev, pastor of the Christian Narva congregation, Artur Põld, senior pastor of the Jõhvi congregation of the Estonian Methodist Church, and Aleksandr Gurkin, Bishop Lazar of Narva and Peipsiveere of the Estonian Christian Orthodox Church.

The Estonian Christian Orthodox Church (Eesti Kristlik Õigeusu Kirik) was formerly the Estonian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (MPEÕK), and changed its name in September 2024.

Vaarmann did not deny it was he who made the proposal, saying he had seen how similar events had worked well in Tartu and elsewhere. He said the city is not involved in organizing it, and is not funding it. Since all Narva city councilors have been invited, the council office forwarded the invitations to them, which he said is standard practice. "If someone organizes something like this and does it with their own money, then I see no reason why it is not a good idea," he said.

Toots meanwhile said the city provided premises for the event, which organizers pay rent for like anyone else. "There are such set-ups in Tartu as well as in other cities, and we agreed to give them the space," Toots said. On Raik's criticism, Toots said the breakfast is not a political event even as Raik was portraying it as such. "For Katri Raik, everything is political; even her time in office was highly political, rather than about getting work done," he said, adding that he did not know the prayer breakfast was included in the Center-Plan B coalition agreement, as Raik claimed.

Pastor Andrejev wrote on social media that the event was prompted by the city's political situation and is intended to bring different political forces together. "It has been difficult for me and, I believe, for all Narva residents to watch how unstably our city council has worked in recent years," he wrote. He added all council members and senior officials have been invited, and that budget funds will not be used for the rental of the premises, the piano or other expenses. He also thanked Vaarmann and Toots for being willing to consider covering the costs from the city budget.

Raik is now in opposition and chairs the Respekt faction at the Narva City Council. She called the prayer breakfast a political event, backed by Plan B and the Center Party. "This is a very strange story, because as we know, this 'Tsar's Route' and the prayer breakfast are the two things that people remember from the latest coalition agreement. And the idea of the prayer breakfast was indeed written into the coalition agreement. Now, somehow, the city government is trying to distance itself from it and says that the city's coat of arms ended up on the announcement by accident," Raik said.

The Tsar's route (Tsaaritee) is a controversial tourism route proposed by Vaarmann which would connect Narva and Tartu, marking the historical path once traveled by Russian Tsars when Estonia was part of the Tsarist Empire (1710-1918).

"This event has this political and murky flavor to it. To this day, I have not grasped exactly which denomination the organizer represents. In principle, I am not against different churches cooperating, but right now this really is a very dubious event with a political flavor. Power and the church have somehow become mixed up with each other here," Raik added. Raik noted she would not be attending the event herself.

An event like this could instead increase tensions, she added. "Narva is Estonia's third-largest city, which is located exactly where it is and where there are plenty of concerns. There is no need to ratchet up additional tensions, which in my view is exactly what this is doing right now," Raik went on.

Ilmo Au, an adviser in the Ministry of the Interior's religious affairs and civil society department, told ERR that allowing local government premises to be used for organizing religious or other events is up to each local government to decide. "The Ministry of the Interior has no objections if representatives of these congregations take part in organizing an ecumenical event for the local community, but we recommend also involving representatives of other congregations operating in Narva," Au said.

While prayer breakfasts in the U.S. have come to be associated with both of President Donald Trump's administrations, the tradition dates back to Dwight D. Eisenhower's presidency and has been attended by Democratic presidents as much as Republican ones — though Democratic participation has declined sharply in recent years.

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