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Kaja Kallas, Estonia’s prime minister and a leader of the EU’s anti-Kremlin bloc, has said that she will not resign after coming under pressure over her husband’s business ties to Russia.
Ms Kallas, 46, has faced calls to step down after it was reported that her husband owned a 25 per cent stake in Stark Logistics, an Estonian company that has been supplying an aerosol container factory in Russia.
At least two major Estonian newspapers have now called for Ms Kallas to stand down and opinion polls have shown that most Estonians also want her to quit, even though she has insisted that her husband, Arvo Hallik, has done nothing illegal.
“There must be punishments for dealing with sanctioned goods but everything else is a matter of moral compass,” Ms Kallas told ERR, Estonia’s public broadcaster, on Friday evening. “I have no plans to resign.”
In May, Ms Kallas won a second term in office after campaigning heavily on her anti-Kremlin credentials.
Moscow ruled Estonia and its two Baltic neighbours, Lithuania and Latvia, from after the Second World War until they broke away from the Soviet Union in 1991. Since then the Baltic states have joined both Nato and the EU and are staunch supporters of Ukraine, although they share borders with Russia and Belarus.
Hypocrisy allegations
Politicians in Estonia have accused Ms Kallas of being a “hypocrite” because she has urged Estonian businesses to find a “moral compass” in their dealings with Russia and has demanded that all but essential ties be cut.
Now she has been forced to admit that she loaned around £300,000 to the investment company through which her husband owns his 25 per cent stake in Stark Logistics.
“My husband said that his company, Novaria Consult, invested this sum alongside other capital in a variety of financial ventures,” she said. “His company has now repaid the loan in full.”
Opposition parties have reportedly begun preparing a no-confidence motion in parliament against Ms Kallas and even her allies have said that she now needed to resign or risk undermining Estonia’s credibility.
“What makes the whole story particularly disturbing is the fact that we have had zero tolerance for any business related to Russia in the government,” said Lauri Laanemets, Estonia’s interior minister and head of the Social Democratic faction in the government coalition.
Mr Hallik has not commented although media has reported that he has agreed to sell his stake in Stark Logistics.
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