Michal also described a recent source of personal satisfaction: the opening of Estonia’s largest timber building, a new natural history museum in northern Estonia. As environment minister, he launched the project in 2023. He said the building cost about €2,100 to €2,200 per square metre, making it one of the most cost-effective of its kind.
The museum stands beside a maritime museum in a former seaplane harbour, where Estonia’s only submarine is also located. Michal said the new institution is intended to bring together organisations focused on ecology and climate. At the opening ceremony, he said, he was moved to see a project he had started completed.
On Russia, Michal recalled that Baltic leaders had warned that Vladimir Putin sought to restore the Soviet Union and was not focused solely on Ukrainian territory. Their concerns, he said, included the loss of Ukraine’s sovereignty and further Russian territorial ambitions. “I would probably have been happier if Baltic states had not been right,” he said.
The interview, conducted by Ondřej Kundra in early November, also raised Estonia’s earlier warnings about European dependence on Russian energy and inadequate preparation for cyber threats. The source text ends before Michal’s answer to a question about whether EU member states have learned from those warnings.
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