Former Estonian president Arnold Rüütel, considered one of the “fathers” of the country’s return to independence in 1991, died at the age of 96, the Estonian presidential office announced on Wednesday night. TASR informs about it according to the report of the AFP news agency.
Rüütel was a Communist Party official in the late 1980s, when the Soviet Union began to disintegrate, and then became the protagonist of this Baltic country’s efforts to regain sovereignty – after half a century of Moscow’s domination.
As the president of Estonia between 2001 and 2006, he contributed to its entry into the European Union and NATO in 2004. “He was one of the leaders of our independence,” said a statement from the Estonian presidency.
