Don’t try to ‘please the dictator,’ Estonian leader urges Europe about Putin

TALLINN — Europe shouldn’t open a diplomatic channel to Russian President Vladimir Putin, warned the leader of one of the continent’s most exposed nations.

“Europe should not be in a mediator’s position,” Estonia’s Prime Minister Kristen Michal told POLITICO in an interview this week. “You should not take the role of trying to please the dictator.”

European leaders have long feared the U.S. administration under President Donald Trump may pursue a Russia–Ukraine peace deal on terms that sideline Europe and disadvantage Kyiv. The most recent talks between Washington and Moscow have reignited debate in Brussels and national capitals about the need for Europe to have its own direct line to the Kremlin. Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre held a 90-minute call with Putin in late October.

The Estonian premier — whose country of 1.3 million people borders Russia and has been subject to Moscow’s persistent attempts to stoke internal unrest — warned against the idea of direct talks, saying it would weaken Europe’s position with Putin.

“For once, Europe has a plan which is actually working” by suffocating Russia economically with sanctions, Michal said. Being a mediator means “you are willing to lower the standards, for example, for Russia,” including when it comes to imposing and enforcing punitive sanctions, he said.

“You cannot [have] two roles. One role is backing up Ukraine and pressuring Russia. A second one is trying to have a form of mediation,” the Estonian leader said.

“Putin should understand that Europe is strong, keeping together and we have one voice,” he added.

U.S. officials will sit down with Ukrainian and Russian representatives next week. The talks, which will be the first face-to-face negotiations since February, will be held in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff said Monday.

The Estonian leader said Europeans “appreciate” the Trump administration’s attempts to broker a peace deal, “but the pressure should be very much on Russia,” he said. “The problem [is] sitting in [the] Kremlin. Nowhere else.”

With Trump’s Republican Party in crisis after a major loss in the U.S. midterm elections Tuesday, Europe is closely watching how the shift of power in the U.S. Congress will influence the president’s position on Ukraine.

“Elections have consequence. So this is a good thing in democracy, that you have checks and balances,” Michal said about the election outcome.

He added the electoral shift could move Washington further “to the better side, more value-based side. And when [the] U.S. is more value-based … that probably is a good message to Ukraine and to Europe.”

To heap pressure on Russia, Estonia has spearheaded a push — together with Poland and Sweden — to toughen up visa rules for Russians, including former fighters who fought on the battlefields in Ukraine. Tallinn has proposed an outright ban on allowing ex-soldiers from Russia’s armed forces access to the EU at large.

Officials believe the tourist visas allow Russian operatives easy access into the bloc to conduct so-called hybrid warfare campaigns — from flying drones over sensitive security sites to sabotage of infrastructure.

EU officials told POLITICO last month the European Commission is planning to put forward proposals in the new year.

Michal said Europe had no time to waste as hybrid attacks keep disrupting services. “You should not have these kind of people running around Europe. So limit the visas,” he said.