Ambassador Prikk and the Counselor for Press and Culture, Aari Lemmik visited Cleveland OH, to induct Mrs. Erika Puussaar into the Cleveland International Hall of Fame on April 23, 2024. The Ambassador wanted to visit the Estonian Cultural Garden (of which Erika Puussaar is President). During the tour, he mentioned how this was his second visit to the Cultural Garden, the last being in the spring of 2000. Then he was traveling with a State Department sponsor group of international youth. He had a copy of a picture, taken in 2000, by the Estonian monument that he wanted to reproduce 24 years later.
At the induction ceremony the evening of April 23, the lead anchor for WKYC-TV, Cleveland’s NBC affiliate was the Master of Ceremonies. The Ambassador gave a brief overview of Erika’s life and thanked her for being such a noteworthy Estonian and helping introduce Estonia to the Northern Ohio community. He praised her for being a school teacher and for continuing to teach Americans about Estonia.
During the induction ceremony, Amb. Prikk met US Ambassador to Ireland, Mr Ed Crawford, who was inducted by Ireland’s ambassador to the US Geraldine Byrne Nason. Ingrid Bublys, Honorary Amb. of Lithuania also greeted Amb. Prikk.
Wednesday, there was a full itinerary, including a visit to Senator JD Vance’s office to discuss European Security concerns with Mr. Graham Lescallette (NE Ohio District Director). During the visit, the Ambassador presented a copy of Estonia’s Ministry of Defence publication “Setting Transatlantic Defense up for Success: A Military Strategy for Ukraine’s Victory and Russia’s Defeat”. This well-researched and common sense strategy can be found online (simply Google “Setting Transatlantic” and it will pop up). Amb. Prikk mentioned that DoD staff who had received it were upset that they had not thought to prepare such an analysis themselves.
We then went to visit John Carroll University to speak with a Political Science class that was taking part in a ‘Mock European Union’ exercise with other Universities. The presentation was well received. An interesting question from a student was “You have attained a senior position as a young man. How did you get selected as Ambassador?” Kristjan responded that he was lucky and had the right background for the position. Estonia does not have ‘political appointees’, but has a merit-based approach to selecting ambassadors. He never applied to be an Ambassador, but was appointed based on his qualifications. He also mentioned how he came out of the Estonian Defence Ministry, not State Dept. and how it was determined that an ambassador to the US should have a solid background in Defence.
In the afternoon, we met with the United Ukrainian Organizations in Ohio. They included Baltic and Polish organizations due to their steadfast support of Ukraine. Once again, Ambassador Prikk’s knowledge and understanding of European and American military capabilities was evident in the discussion. There was mention of the longer-range artillery to be provided to Ukraine and a discussion of how the West should lift restrictions on the use of these weapons against military bases in Russia. The weaponry and armament being provided to Ukraine along with the ability to attack command centers and supply depots located across the border in Russia would enable the Ukrainians to execute the plan developed by the Estonian Ministry of Defence.
The afternoon concluded with an interview at WKYC TV Studio in Cleveland. During the interview, a weather reporter talked with Aari Lemmik about her trip to the Baltic countries that she had just returned from and how she left a small bag on a bus between Tallinn and Riga. She just got an email from Estonia asking when she planned to pick it up. Aari was able to help her out, by responding in Estonian and organizing the return of the bag to Cleveland. As Russ Mitchell commented, “Its a small world”. When an Estonian visits the studio and is able to solve a problem for an unrelated person, it leaves a very good impression.
Toomas Tubalkain
