The Estonian parliament on Tuesday officially declared Russia a "terrorist regime" after a statement condemning the Kremlin's annexation of Ukrainian territories was approved by a large majority of Estonian lawmakers.
Eighty-eight of the 101 Estonian MPs in the Riigikogu voted to denounce Russia's military actions in Ukraine and declare that Estonia "will never recognize the violation of the territorial integrity of Ukraine through aggressions and sham referendums."
Russian President Vladimir Putin's threats of nuclear attacks "have turned Russia into the biggest danger to peace both in Europe and the world," the Estonian parliament continued. "The Riigikogu declares Russia a terrorist regime and the Russian Federation a country that supports terrorism, whose actions we must confront together."
"The Riigikogu declares Russia a terrorist regime and the Russian Federation a country that supports terrorism, whose actions we must confront together."
Estonian parliament
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov thanked Estonia for its unequivocal message of support and for "standing on the right side of history," he said on Twitter.
The Parliament of Estonia @Riigikogu has joined its & colleagues & voted to designate the russian regime as a terrorist one.Thank you for standing on the right side of history.We appreciate security assistance & leadership in sanctioning tyranny. We will definitely win pic.twitter.com/878CCgdZn8
— Oleksii Reznikov (@oleksiireznikov) October 18, 2022
Estonia reaffirms Baltic front against Russia
The first nation to designate Russia a "terrorist state" was Estonia's Baltic neighbor Lithuania, whose parliament did so back in May. the parliament of Latvia, another Baltic nation, did the same back in August.
Ukraine had previously pushed for other nations to label Russia a state sponsor of terrorism, with the Ukrainian parliament drafting a bill back in May calling for the United States to designate Moscow as such.
In response, Russia's foreign ministry warned the US that such a designation would result in the breaking of diplomatic relations between the two countries. A bipartisan resolution did pass the US Senate but was met with resistance by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, according to The New York Times.