The President of Estonia, one of the Baltic countries neighboring Russia, has condemned Moscow for indicating it may undertake increased military intervention in Ukraine.
Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves spoke to reporters in Tokyo on Thursday.
Ilves said that Nazi Germany annexed Czechoslovakia in 1938 because there was an ethnic German population in the country. He said that Russia is trying to apply the same logic to Ukraine as Germany did to Czechoslovakia.
Estonia and Russia signed a treaty formalizing their borders in February. The border issue had been at the center of bilateral tensions since Estonia’s independence from the former Soviet Union.
President Ilves said that a small country like Estonia had no other choice but to accept Russia’s demands.
The Baltic country gave up its claims to Russian-controlled land after it failed to gain concessions from Russia.
Ilves said Japan, with its large population comparable to that of Russia, has a different situation that allows the country to continue firm negotiations with Russia over territorial issues.
The president will meet Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday.
