Prime Minister Kallas in her Berlin Speech on Freedom: we must conquer our fear to make brave decisions

In her speech, Prime Minister Kallas called on all democratic societies to use their moral judgement. "Kremlin must feel that it is isolated," she emphasised. We have witnessed tremendous, historical changes - also here, in Germany. Yet, unless the Russian aggression is put to an end, we have not done enough," emphasised Kallas.

Prime Minister Kallas recalled how she visited the Berlin wall with her family in 1988 when she was eleven-year-old, trying to get as close to the Brandenburg Gate as possible. "I remember the words of my father to this day: 'Children, breathe in deeply - that's the air of freedom that comes from the other side.' If we do everything to help Ukraine, there will be no 11-year-olds for whom the air of freedom is something they only experience from a distance," said Kallas.

Kallas underlined that she understands the difficult choices that the leaders of democratic countries must now face. The spiralling inflation, especially the rising energy prices, could mean that our domestic economic difficulties are overshadowing the hardships of Ukrainians. "Gas may be expensive, but freedom has no price. It is for every government to decide how heavy of a burden its people can manage. Yet, it is as important that we sent a message to our people - the problem our neighbour is facing today will be our problem tomorrow. All of us are in danger when the house of our neighbour goes up in flames," she explained.

According to Prime Minister Kallas, Ukrainians show an enormous strength and courage in protecting their freedom when the Kremlin and Putin have clearly said that their goal is to erase Ukraine from the world map. "History is important. Even though the Soviet Union fell apart, its imperialist ideology never changed," noted Kallas.

According to Prime Minister Kallas, when looking at Russia, we only see a darkness and fear that keeps the society bound together. "We see thousands escaping from tyranny. We know this fear. A fear of a secret police arresting people in the middle of the night for displaying posters, a fear of constant mistrust and of expressing one's own opinion, a fear of the brutal actions that may follow. During the Second World War, tens of thousands of Estonians escaped from the same tyranny," said Kallas.

The previous wars of Putin in Chechnya, Georgia, Donbass, and Crimea show why Russia cannot win the war in Ukraine and why Moscow cannot be allowed to pretend that it has achieved anything with the war. "The strategic goals of Putin have not changed. The suffering and destruction in Ukraine are far from over. Like Denys Shmyhal has said, once Russia stops fighting, peace will come, but if Ukraine stops fighting, Ukraine will cease to exist," Kallas emphasised in her speech.

"Achieving the right balance through political leadership is understandably one of the main challenges for democracy and our freedom today. If the war was lost, then it would not only be a loss for Ukraine, but for us."

According to the prime minister of Estonia, we have reached the point where we must have sufficient courage to say that Ukraine will win this war and we must act accordingly. "We must continue to support Ukraine's struggle for freedom, while increasing the pressure on the aggressor with additional sanctions and political and economic isolation," said Kallas.

Full speech in English: https://valitsus.ee/en/news/16th-berlin-speech-freedom-kaja-kallas-prime-minister-estonia
Speech in Estonian: https://valitsus.ee/uudised/kaja-kallase-kone-friedrich-naumann-stiftungis-25042022

Photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/stenbockimaja/albums/72177720298372280

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