Collapse of Estonian Economy.

RIA Novosti:

The media have been extensively covering economic issues. Politicians attribute a sharp reduction in Russian transit to Moscow's decision to use its own ports. «We have to realize that Estonia is no longer a major transit country between the West and the East. This wonderful time has gone never to return. Russia is now sticking to its own plan, and will send the majority of its massive supplies to its own ports.» (Eesti Paevaleht, 13 June)

«Prime Minister Andrus Ansip believes that Estonia should forget about Russian transit, and find another source of revenues... He explained that Russia has actively invested in the development of its own ports, and will now use them extensively.» (Postimees, 14 June)

Businessmen believe that the transfer of the Bronze Soldier in Tallinn in April last year has speeded up the collapse of the economy, and that it can only be stopped if relations with Russia return to normal. «Since April 2007 it seems that we can no longer count on profitable transit, or we need to find some magic Chinese trick to outwit the current strategy of our big neighbor Russia... If the Estonian Republic succeeded in restoring good economic relations with Russia, we could even increase the transit of some categories of goods. When relations are good, the transit is there, but when they are bad, there is is no sense in talking about transit.» (Eesti Paevaleht, 13 June)»