Madise declines to comment directly on US-Russia diesel deal

Estonian President Ülle Madise declined to comment directly on a reported US-Russia diesel deal, saying she lacked enough information, but said anything that strengthens Russia or weakens Ukraine is bad, ERR reported.

“I can honestly say that the information about this so-called diesel deal is fairly new to me,” Madise said at a news conference after meeting Latvian President Edgars Rinkēvičs. She said she wanted to establish the facts before taking a clear position.

Madise said that, in general, anything that helps an aggressor wage war is bad, as is anything that harms Ukraine as it fights the aggressor. She stressed that she did not know the specific facts of the deal.

She also underlined the importance of alliances and NATO, saying Estonia needs a strong alliance, strong defence capabilities and the United States as a NATO partner. She said it was also important for allied troops to be present in Estonia and Latvia.

Madise, who took office on Monday, was in Latvia on Tuesday for her first foreign visit. She said she expected to speak by phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy within hours or on Wednesday, and hoped to hear his assessment of the situation.

US President Donald Trump said on Friday that, following a phone call with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, Moscow had agreed to bring 300,000 tonnes of diesel fuel to the world market immediately, with several million tonnes more to follow over a longer period. The decision has drawn widespread criticism in Western countries.