During the August coup in the U. S. S. R., Estonia was able to maintain constant operation and control of its telecommunications facilities, thereby offering the West a clear view into the latest coup developments and serving as a conduit for swift Western support and recognition of Estonia's " confirmation " of independence on August 20, 1991.

Several countries at Russia's border and also in the West reacted negatively on Estonia's decision to sign peace with Soviet Russia.

Estonia's strategic location has precipitated many wars that were fought on its territory between other rival powers at its expense.

The HBV hydrological transport model has been used to analyze water pollution issues in Estonia's rivers and in the Baltic Sea

Impact from the rise and fall of the Soviet Union, including the annexation and eventual independence of Estonia, has had a major effect on Estonia's ethnic makeup and educational achievement.

An important element in Estonia's post-independence reorientation has been closer ties with the Nordic countries, especially Finland and Sweden.

This follows Estonia's journey to membership, as a recent example from the 2004 enlargement, however the speed of accession depends on each state: how integrated it is with the EU before hand, the state of its economy and public institutions, any outstanding political issues with the EU and ( historically ) how much law to date the EU has built up that the acceding state must adopt.

The Centre Party declares itself as " middle class liberal party "; however, against the backdrop of Estonia's economic liberal policies, the Centre Party has a reputation of having more left-leaning policies.

As the Reform Party has participated in most of the government coalitions in Estonia since the mid-1990s, its influence has been great, especially regarding Estonia's free market and low taxes policies.

The institution, which already had the function of inspecting places of detention, has served since 2007 as Estonia's national preventive mechanism under the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture.

Estonia's national team has had two meetings with England national football team | England, and both ended in 3 – 0 defeats, with the last to date being at Wembley Stadium on 13 October 2007.

As a professional historian Laar has written many books on Estonian and Soviet history, among them his book War in the Woods: Estonia's Struggle for Survival, 1944 – 1956 a work about the Forest Brothers anti-Soviet resistance movement.

Since 1996 Pärnu has been known as Estonia's Summer capital.

The report described the worst damage as having been done to Estonia's topsoil and underground water supply by the systematic dumping of jet fuel at six Soviet army air bases.

In the essay Tacituse tahtel ( 2000 ), Meri examined ancient contacts between Estonia and the Roman empire and notes that furs, amber, and especially Livonian kiln-dried, disease-free grain may have been Estonia's biggest contribution to the common culture of Europe – in lean years, it provided seed grain for Europe.

Despite speculation that the attack had been coordinated by the Russian government, Estonia's defense minister admitted he had no conclusive evidence linking cyber attacks to Russian authorities.

Despite not representing their native Estonia, their home country responded well and gave the group the full 12 points ( Estonia's entry, Suntribe's " Let's Get Loud ", had been eliminated in the semi-final ).

Russian-Estonian border treaty had been signed in Moscow on 18 May 2005 and ratified by Estonia, but was not ratified by Russia — official reason for this was the fact that Estonia's internal treaty ratification legislation passed by parliament mentioned the Treaty of Tartu ( the treaty under which these territories were originally recognised as Estonian ).

Mart Laar ( Prime Minister of Estonia, 1992 – 1994 and 1999 – 2002 ), in his 1992 book War in the Woods: Estonia's Struggle for Survival, 1944 – 1956 rejected Soviet propaganda that had painted the Baltic resistance as having been orchestrated by wealthy landowners and Nazi officials and noted that the Forest Brothers counted among their ranks anti-Nazis and former Soviet partisans.

From 1920 to 1945, Estonia's border with Russia, set by the 1920 Tartu Peace Treaty, extended beyond the Narva River in the northeast and beyond the town of Petseri in the southeast.

In the twentieth century, Estonia's ethnic makeup was altered radically by policies implemented by the Soviet government.

It was hoped that by engaging in such a war Estonia would be able to attract Western support for the cause of Estonia's independence from the USSR and thus ultimately succeed in achieving independence.

Estonia's population had decreased by one-fifth, about 200, 000 people.

Among those are included the attack on Estonia's infrastructure in 2007, allegedly by Russian hackers.

) But what the German occupiers dislike especially is that this young law student is writing a work about the Estonian politician and freedom fighter Jüri Vilms ( 1889-1918 ) who was obliged to flee from the Germans back in 1918 ( during another period of Estonia's tangled history ) and was shot by firing squad when he had just reached Helsinki, around the time that Estonia finally became independent of Russia.

According to Uno Piir, the first national team manager after Estonia's re-independence, the reason for football's downfall in society was the inability to create a competitive Union-level club, hence the decrease in audience and the favouring of other sports by the governing bodies of sports.

In 2004 Roche was conferred with the Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana by the Government of Estonia for his support of Estonia's accession to the European Union.

Kaplinski supposes that anti-Russian sentiment could disappear as quickly as anti-German sentiment did in 1940, however he believes the prevailing sentiment in Estonia is sustained by Estonia's politicians who employ " the use of anti-Russian sentiments in political combat ," together with the " tendentious attitude of the media.

EJL became a member of FIFA in 1923, but following Estonia's annexation by the Soviet Union it was disbanded.

Estonia's contribution to the Eurovision Song Contest 2004 was the song " Tii ", which was performed by Neiokõsõ in Võro.

As the crisis swept across Eastern and Central Europe, the economies of the Baltic states were especially hard hit: Estonia's GDP dropped by-16. 2 % year-on-year, Latvia ’ s by − 19. 6 % and Lithuania ’ s by − 16. 8 %.

Shortly after Estonia's return to independence in 1991, Vähi was appointed as the Government's special representative to north-eastern Estonia, a region inhabited by a majority of ethnic Russians.

It was hoped that by engaging in such a war Estonia would be able to attract Western support for the cause of Estonia's independence from the USSR and thus ultimately succeed in achieving independence.

Ernst Jaakson, the longest-serving foreign diplomatic representative to the United States, served as vice-consul from 1934, and as consul general in charge of the Estonian legation in the United States from 1965 until reestablishment of Estonia's independence.

In 2001, the party called for closer relations with Russia and said that the country should have a bigger say in defining Estonia's future.

Estonia's land border with Latvia runs ; the Russian border runs.

Estonia's principal markets became Scandinavia, the United Kingdom, and western Europe, with some exports to the United States and to the Soviet Union.

In February 1992, and with amendments in January 1995, the Riigikogu renewed Estonia's 1938 citizenship law, which also provides equal civil protection to resident aliens.

Estonia's new eastern border was planned to be extent to the Leningrad-Novgorod line, with Lake Ilmen and Volkhov River forming the new eastern border of the Baltic country, while Latvia was to reach the Velikiye Luki region.

Tiit Vähi tried to negotiate a coalition with the Reform Party, but the talks broke down over economic policy, with the Reform Party opposing agricultural subsidies and supporting the maintenance of Estonia's flat-rate income tax, While the Coalition Party formed a new government with the Centre Party at first, a taping scandal involving Centre Party leader Edgar Savisaar led to the Reform Party replacing the Centre Party in the coalition in November 1995.

Estonia's fourth largest island, Vormsi (, ), is located between Hiiumaa and the mainland with a total area of 92 square kilometers.

The attack was a distributed denial-of-service attack in which selected sites were bombarded with traffic to force them offline ; nearly all Estonian government ministry networks as well as two major Estonian bank networks were knocked offline ; in addition, the political party website of Estonia's current Prime Minister Andrus Ansip featured a counterfeit letter of apology from Ansip for removing the memorial statue.

Estonia's first match was with Finland in 1920, being a 6 – 0 defeat.

The Estonian businessman and politician Tiit Vähi, who briefly served as Estonia's prime minister in 1992 and once more in 1995-1997, described " overall anti-Russian sentiment " as a feature of the populist current in the country's politics, raising it as one among a number of issues with the ruling coalition of Prime Minister Andrus Ansip.

In 2008, the economic growth slowed down in all three Baltic states ( due to global financial crisis ), with Lithuania's real growth rate falling to 3. 0 %, Latvia's − 4. 6 % and Estonia's − 3. 6 %.

This consists of a six hour, custom tailored sauna session and three ( 3 ) cabbage-inspired meals per day, complete with two pints of some of Estonia's finest beers.

Estonia's Forest Brothers were most active in Võru County and the border areas between Pärnu and Lääne Counties, with significant activity between Tartu and Viru Counties as well.

Later former Estonian prime minister Edgar Savisaar criticised that Väyrynen as a minister of Foreign Affairs with the Social Democrat president Mauno Koivisto and conservative party leader Harri Holkeri were more of a hindrance than a help in Estonia's independence process.