Estonian PM sets sights on NATO leadership

Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas could reportedly be interested in becoming NATO secretary general once Jens Stoltenberg’s term ends next year.

The Estonian Public Broadcasting ERR news included Kallas’ contacts in Washington.

Speaking at the POLITICO Defense Summit in the US, Kallas was asked if he would be interested in becoming NATO’s next secretary general next year after the end of Stoltenberg’s term, to which Kallas He answered “yes,” and this answer was met with applause.

Former Norwegian Prime Minister Stoltenberg has been NATO Secretary General since 2014 and his mandate has been extended four times.

Kallas, a 46-year-old lawyer, stands out as one of Ukraine’s strongest supporters in Europe and one of Russia’s harshest critics within the European Union and NATO.
Among other things, Kallas had pressed NATO to present a more comprehensive defense plan for Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, the three Baltic states that border Russia.

Kallas’s Reform Party won a landslide victory in Estonian elections in March, but the country’s media reported that Kallas’s wife is a major shareholder in a transportation company that continued to operate in Moscow after Russia initiated the war with Ukraine in February 2022. His popularity fell in August after it was revealed that this was still the case.

Kallas had previously asked Estonian companies to suspend their activities in Russia.

Kallas, who said she did not know the details of her husband’s business activities, received calls from President Alar Karis and the public to resign, but did not decide to resign.