Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold a meeting with his Estonian counterpart, Kersti Kaljulaid, in Moscow on Thursday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 18th April, 2019) Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold a meeting with his Estonian counterpart, Kersti Kaljulaid, in Moscow on Thursday.
On 24 August 1991, then-Russian President Boris Yeltsin signed a decree recognizing the national independence of Estonia. Diplomatic relations between Russia and Estonia were established on October 24, 1991.
Estonia is an ardent supporter of applying political and economic pressure on Russia. The country also insists on the need to expand NATO forces and infrastructure in the Baltic region.
The last visit of an Estonian leader to Russia took place in February 2011, when then-president Toomas Hendrik Ilves attended the consecration of St. John's Church in St.Petersburg. This Protestant church belongs to Estonia.
The last high-level meeting was held in June 2008, when Ilves met with then-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in the Russian city of Khanty-Mansiysk on the margins of the World Congress of Finno-Ugric Peoples.
The last visit of an Estonian foreign minister to Russia took place in February 2014 by Keit Pentus-Rosimannus, who was the country's foreign minister at the time.
On September 27, 2015, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held talks with then-Estonian Foreign Minister Marina Kaljurand on the sidelines of the 70th Session of the United Nations General Assembly.
In October 2015, a parliamentary delegation from Estonia paid an official visit to Moscow.
Russian-Estonian political consultations were organized in Tallinn on November 20, 2015, and in Moscow on November 18, 2016. On April 6, 2016, consultations with consular officials were held in Moscow.
After Russia's relations with the West soured in 2014, Estonia's agricultural exports to Russia declined by almost 70 percent in comparison with 2014. The transit sector of the Estonian economy is also experiencing serious problems. In general, the traffic through Estonia decreased fourfold over the past decade.
In 2018, according to the Russian Federal Customs Service, Russian-Estonian trade amounted to $3.06 billion (compared to $2.62 billion in 2017), including $2.45 billion in Russian exports and $616.9 million in imports.
Russia's exports to Estonia include mineral products, chemicals, wood, pulp and paper products, metals and products made of them and other goods. Russia's imports from Estonia consist mainly of machinery, equipment and vehicles, chemicals, metals and products made of them, food products and agricultural raw materials.
Russia and Estonia maintain an active cooperation in the field of culture. There are many significant cultural events with participation of Russian figures in Estonia, namely the Golden Mask Theatre Festival in Estonia, the Slavic Light festival in the town of Johvi and Haapsalu Tchaikovsky Festival.
In November 2016, the Estonia-Russia Cross-Border Cooperation Program for the years from 2014 to 2020 was launched in a city of Tartu in eastern Estonia within the framework of cross-border cooperation.
Estonia is one of the most popular countries among Russian tourists. According to Russia's TurStat analytic agency, 1.8 million Russian tourists visited Estonia in 2018.
In turn, 354,000 tourists from Estonia visited Russia in the first nine months of 2018.
