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.

Estonia's international realignment toward the West has been accompanied by a general deterioration in relations with Russia, most recently demonstrated by the controversy surrounding relocation of the Bronze Soldier WWII memorial in Tallinn.

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.

Overall, ethnic Russians make up 25, 5 % of Estonia's population ( the proportion of Russophones is, however, much higher, because Russian is the mother tongue of many ethnic Ukrainians, Belarusians and Jews who live in the country ).

Although the majority of Estonia's large Russian-speaking diaspora of Soviet-era immigrants did not support full independence, they were divided in their goals for the republic.

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 points in the FIFA World Cup qualifying rounds were gained in 1938, playing the qualification matches in 1937, the third edition of the tournament.

Goal scorers were Ellman-Eelma ( 21 goals in 65 matches ), Richard Kuremaa ( 18 / 42 ), Arnold Pihlak ( 17 / 44 ), Georg Siimenson ( 14 / 42 ) and Friedrich Karm ( 9 / 13 ), who are still Estonia's all-time top ten.

) were in Estonia's team in Geislingen's refugee camp.

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 %.

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 ).

In 2007, the EU accounted for 70 % of Estonia's exports and 78 % of its imports, while the share of the CIS countries were accordingly 11 % and 13 %.

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.

Both of Estonia's games were high scoring, but they lost both matches.

Following the restoration of independence from the Soviet Union, Russia was one of the first nations to recognize Estonia's independence ( the first country to do so was Iceland on 22 August 1991 ).

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.

The kroon was reintroduced as Estonia's currency on 20 June 1992, replacing the Soviet ruble at a rate of 1 kroon = 10 rubles.

Ilon Wikland ( born February 5, 1930 in Tartu, Estonia ) is a Swedish artist and illustrator, born in Tartu, Estonia, but raised Haapsalu on Estonia's Baltic coast.

Kewell would then score in a 5 – 0 win against Estonia's Levadia Tallinn on 20 August 2009.

He served during the confirmation of Estonia's independence on August 20, 1991.

Rüütel announced in his election manifesto that his principal aims would be to reduce the negative effects that Estonia's speedy economic changes had had on a large number of people, and to seek greater solidarity within the society.

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

Estonia's first FIFA recognised match as an independent nation after the break-up of the Soviet Union, was against Slovenia on 3 June 1992, a 1 – 1 draw in the Estonian capital city of Tallinn.

Estonia's leaders before the Soviet occupation, celebrating the country's independence day for the last time, on 24 February 1940.

He retired after Estonia's 0 – 0 draw against Portugal on 10 June 2009 to focus on his job as goalkeeping coach at Arsenal and the Estonian national team, as well as other more " personal " projects.

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 Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, passed on June 11, 1997, is a law designed to fulfill that country's treaty obligations under the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, the Convention on Psychotropic Substances, and the United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances.

In recognition the square in front of Estonia's Foreign Ministry is named as " Iceland's Square ", and on the grounds of the Lithuanian Seimas ( Parliament ) the rocks of the last barricades from January 1991 bear the inscription To Iceland-They Dared When Others Remained Silent.

Estonia's immediate priority after regaining its independence was the withdrawal of Russian ( formerly Soviet ) forces from Estonian territory.

The German authorities recognized neither the provisional government, nor its claim for Estonia's independence, counting them as a self-styled group usurping sovereign rights of the Baltic nobility.

in the territory of Estonia's borders.

Ugandi corresponded roughly to the present Estonia's territory of Tartu County, Põlva County, Võru County and half of Valga County.