In September 1992 Estonia held the first free parliamentary elections in over sixty years. A succession of broadly centre-right governments followed, often staffed by young technocrats with no experience of Soviet-era politics.

Certain political priorities emerged: a swift transition to capitalism, close cooperation with the EU with a view to future membership, and the courting of NATO in the hope that Estonia would one day be admitted as a full member. The latter aim was particularly important - despite the relative weakness of Russia in the early 1990s, there was no indication that Estonia’s nuclear-armed neighbour would give up its ambitions to be the regional hegemon, or indeed offer its newly independent former colonies meaningful security guarantees. Securing a Western alliance was for Estonia an existential necessity. Estonia joined both the EU and NATO in 2004.

Estonia’s handling of its Russian-speaking population did however raise serious questions. A new citizenship law that required non-ethnic Estonians to take a language test initially ensured the exclusion of much of the Russian-speaking population. Younger-generation Russian speakers soon adapted to the new situation, but did not necessarily become patriotic Estonians in the process.