Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas faced pressure yesterday from the political opposition and mainstream media to resign as reports surfaced that her husband co-owned a company that has done business with Russia after the invasion of Ukraine. .
Two major Estonian newspapers called for Kallas's resignation, which would be reinforced by two opinion polls in which the majority of respondents thought he should resign. Kallas, who has urged European companies to cut ties with Moscow, has been one of the most critical voices against Russia in the European Union and NATO, and her name was buzzing as a possible secretary general of the Atlantic Alliance.
Estonian public broadcaster ERR reported this week that Stark Logistics, an Estonian company in which Arvo Hallik owns a 24% stake, has been supplying an aerosol container factory in Russia owned by another Estonian company. Since the start of the war the company has earned 1.5 million euros for its services to the factory, the Estonian newspaper Eesti Paevaleht reported.
President Alar Karis and the leader of the Social Democrats, who are minority partners in Kallas's coalition government, asked the prime minister on Thursday for an explanation. Kallas told reporters that while she did not have detailed knowledge of her husband's business, she was satisfied with her explanation that the company is only helping another Estonian company "in accordance with the laws and regulations." international sanctions”. “What I am absolutely certain and confident about is that my husband's companies are not involved in any immoral activity,” she Kallas said. They don't even buy fuel from Russia."
The Postimees, a leading Estonian daily, said in an editorial yesterday that the prime minister had been evasive in her responses. “We did not receive any response on Wednesday or Thursday, and there is no reason to believe that we will receive it on Saturday or Sunday. That is why Postimees kindly advises the Prime Minister to start packing her bags today to avoid further embarrassment in the future.” The Eesti Paevaleht suggests that Kallas resign and then face a vote of confidence in Parliament.
Kallas's husband announced yesterday that he would sell his stake in the company and resign from its board of directors. “We [the company] discussed the issue of transportation for our client [in Russia] on several occasions and we believed that we were doing the right thing, helping the right people and saving a good Estonian company, otherwise we would not have been able to do it,” Hallik said in a statement. Kallas, who has loaned up to 350,000 euros to a company owned by her husband, banned the state railway company in December from transporting Russian nickel even without sanctions, saying there should be no deal with Russia or Belarus.
Kallas's reformist liberal party, in power since 2021, won elections in March and won 37 seats in the 101-member parliament. He formed a coalition with the liberal Estonia 200 party and the Social Democratic Party to get 60 votes.
