Tallinn, Estonia —
Weeks after U.S. Ambassador to Estonia George Kent took up his new post in the country, he spoke to VOA about the future of U.S.-Estonia relations, how Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has affected attitudes toward defense spending, and military cooperation, as well as NATO expansion.
Kent is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service and previously served as deputy assistant secretary in the European and Eurasian bureau at the U.S. State Department. He was also the former deputy chief of mission in Kyiv, Ukraine. He joined the U.S. Foreign Service in 1992.
Kent spoke this week with VOA Eastern Europe bureau chief Myroslava Gongadze in Tallinn, Estonia.
This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
Well, you can see this is the Victims of Communism Memorial. It was built in 2018, and Estonians — who were about a million Estonians before the war — lost 75,000 people through being shot and killed in exile in Siberia. And another estimated 90,000 who were forced into refugee status. So, a country that's relatively small lost 20% of its population between roughly 1940 and 1955. So, I think that experience of Estonians ... experiencing Soviet oppression made them empathetic to what was happening to Ukrainians, particularly over the last year.
I think Estonians have lived the threat. They are neighbors of Russia, and so I think it's not hypothetical for Estonians. So, for others who are further away, it's almost a clinical international relations challenge. And for Estonians, it's both the lived experience of their families, as well as the actual threat right on their borders. And so, for instance, I was given this Ukrainian-colored ribbon at the Estonian National Day [commemoration]. As we went in for the commemoration of Estonia's independence in 1918, everybody was given a Ukrainian ribbon, because for Estonians, they really see the events of today through the lens of their own past.
I think many people heard but did not listen to the words of Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Russians. They were talking about wanting to expand Russia's territory — the previous lands that were under the Russian empire — and I believe most Westerners thought we are in a different era, that we have a rules-based international order. There are commitments that both Soviet and Russian leaders signed up to, and perhaps we all should have been listening more closely to what Russians were actually saying.
Secretary of Defense [Lloyd] Austin was here three weeks ago, and his messages, I think, were direct and quite relevant to your question. First of all, Estonia has given more assistance per capita to Ukraine than any other country. Second of all, Secretary Austin said he promised the previous Estonian governments were Russia to invade Ukraine more broadly, we, the U.S., would be sending troops to Estonia the next day. And it was a small group, but they were dispatched the next day. Last December, we sent a … HIMARS unit and an infantry company here to Estonia. That was our implementation of the commitments made at the NATO Madrid Summit last year. And leading up to the Vilnius Summit in July, we’re in active discussions led by the NATO Supreme Commander Chris Cavoli about new regional plans. So, I think the events, Russia's wider invasion and war in Ukraine, are also driving considerations within NATO, as well as the discussions between the U.S. and Estonia bilaterally.
I think there's a lot of coverage around the Munich Security Conference. The U.S. clearly has been messaging to Chinese leaders that they should stay out, not support Russia materially in this war. And I think it's pretty clear that the U.S. has a willingness to sanction those who support Russia's war effort. And there were a series of announcements on February 24th, which was the anniversary of the wider invasion, both additional security and assistance, particularly financial assistance that Secretary of State [Antony] Blinken announced, but also a series of sanctions against Russia, against individuals involved in the war effort, involved in what we consider are crimes against humanity. But also sanctions against financial, military, technology and energy sector companies. So, I think that is a very firm signal that the U.S. will sanction those who are involved in supporting Russia's war effort, whether they’re Russians or other countries.