President Lennart Meri gave a six-minute interview today in the World News programme of the international CNN TV channel in connection with the US - Baltic Charter. The President was interviewed by the editor of the programme, Ralph Begleiter.
President Meri regards the Charter of Partnership as a crystallization of 75 years of Baltic-US relations and at the same time as a new starting-point. ''I would like to stress the very important role of all the American administrations during the Cold War: America has never recognized the occupation of Estonia, and after we regained our independence America has been most actively supporting the comeback of Estonia into the European structures, into the transatlantic structures,'' said Meri.
On Begleiter's question if the Charter is a step towards something else, Meri answered it could be spelled out that it is a step towards the Baltic countries' accession to NATO.
Asked by the host to say something to reassure the Russians, the Estonian head of state said that NATO had a new role and if Estonia became a member of NATO Russia would have a stable Western frontier and the best possible cooperation of a small but friendly nation.
Speaking of the problem of Russians in Estonia, President Meri stated that Estonia's economic progress had increased the loyalty of Russians living in Estonia. ''They are happy to be in Estonia, to be as citizens or as foreigners or - we also have a small number of Russians who have not yet decided whether to enter Estonian citizenship or Russian citizenship,'' said Meri.
Answering the question whether the presence of the US troops or NATO troops is expected to guarantee the security of Estonia, Meri said that ''security is always something which costs a lot, but in the long run it's the best solution, the cheapest solution, because insecurity will always cause more damage.''

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