Kanerva calls for solidarity with Estonia

In something of a change of course from the Finnish government's first take to the events in Estonia, Foreign Minister Ilkka Kanerva has approached (fi) Germany's Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier - Germany is currently holding the EU presidency - to call for EU countries to display solidarity with Estonia. Kanerva also said in a radio interview that it's important that EU countries express their clear support for Estonia. Previously Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen called on foreign countries not to get involved in Estonia's internal matter. I guess this settles the issue of whether "foreign countries" was an euphenism for "Russia". The new comment can still be seen as contradictory with the first reaction. I wonder if the Estonian government asked Finland to do it.

Update: Vanhanen wrote (fi) about the issue on his blog. He had a discussion with Estonia's Prime Minister Andrus Ansip on Saturday evening and describes the discussion as "warm and open". The blog entry also makes clear that his call for other countries not to get involved should be seen as a defense of Estonia's right to move the statue: "The location of a statue can not in itself be a human rights issue and the international community can't have any reason to interfere in the issue. This also goes for neighboring countries ... My statement has been read with satisfaction in Tallinn against the background that all multilateral organizations on our continent have been called for help against the decision to move of the statue and the Estonian government has been advised to enter into international dialog." From that perspective, a call for EU states to show solidarity with Estonia isn't all that incongruent.