Politics- Estonian Foreign Affairs Minister Urmas Reinsalu was asked Tuesday about Vladimir Putin.
- Reinsalu has criticized western countries for not throwing more support to Ukraine.
Estonia's minister of foreign affairs Urmas Reinsalu had a few choice words for Vladimir Putin during a Tuesday interview in Berlin.
When political reporter Nina Haase-Trobridge of DW News asked Reinsalu, "Would you like to see Vladimir Putin go to jail," the foreign minister had another place in mind.
"To hell," he said bluntly, after briefly mulling it over.
—DW Politics (@dw_politics) October 19, 2022
Reinsalu's forward answer may not come as a surprise given his outspoken support for Ukraine and denunciation of Putin's war. The foreign minister previously defended his country's decision to ban Russian tourists and stop issuing new visas to Russians.
In the same interview with DW News, Reinsalu said that the West has not done enough to support Ukraine and that the "price is paid by the blood of Ukrainians."
At the outset of Russia's invasion, Estonia donated one-third of its military budget to Ukraine, according to the foreign minister. By August, the Baltic state had donated €220 million, or roughly $215 million, in support — about 0.8% of the country's GDP, according to Politico. In addition, the country has imposed several packages of sanctions against Russia.
On Tuesday, Estonian parliament members also almost unanimously voted to declare Russia a "terrorist regime," with only three lawmakers abstaining to vote, according to Radio Free Europe.
Estonia shares a 183-mile border with Russia. The country, along with the Baltic states of Latvia and Lithuania, was under Soviet occupation for five decades until 1991.