Marina Kaljurand

Marina Kaljurand (née Rajevskaja; born 6 September 1962) is an Estonian politician and Member of the European Parliament.

Kaljurand served as Minister of Foreign Affairs in Taavi Rõivas' second cabinet as an independent.

Earlier, she served as the Ambassador of Estonia to the United States, Russia, Mexico, Canada, Kazakhstan, and Israel.

Born in Tallinn, Kaljurand is of Latvian and Russian descent through her father and mother, respectively.

Her father was bus driver Imants Uits from Saldus, Latvia and her mother was Veera Rajevskaja a former Estonian SSR Council of Ministers employee from Narva.

She identifies herself as ethnically Russian.

After obtaining her high school diploma in Tallinn, she graduated in 1986 from the University of Tartu, where she earned a master's degree in law (cum laude).

She has also graduated from the Estonian School of Diplomacy and has acquired a master's degree in international law and diplomacy from Tufts University's Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy (F95) on a Fulbright Scholarship in the United States.

Kaljurand formerly worked as the Undersecretary for Legal and Consular Affairs, Undersecretary for Political Affairs, Undersecretary for Foreign Economic Relations and Development Aid at the Foreign Affairs Ministry.

Kaljurand was the Ambassador of Estonia to Israel in 2004–2006, to the Russian Federation in 2005–2008, to Kazakhstan in 2007–2011, to Canada in 2011–2013, and to the United States and Mexico in 2011–2014.

In July 2015, the Reform Party nominated Kaljurand as the new Minister of Foreign Affairs after Keit Pentus-Rosimannus had resigned.

Her tenure began on 16 July 2015.

She has frequently emphasized the importance of an efficient Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) as well as a European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP).

One of the leading Estonian television broadcasts "Pealtnägija" reported that in 2015 alone, "Russian military aircraft have flown with turned off transponders 266 times near Estonian borders."

Marina Kaljurand then made a statement to the press saying Russia has given no explanations on these incidents.

Each of the 266 incidents have caused NATO fighter jets to scramble from Ämari to intercept and identify the aircraft with switched off transponders.

Kaljurand said this is a very serious problem and Estonia has repeatedly demanded answers from Russia.

"Every meeting I have had with the Russian ambassador we have talked about aircraft with switched off transponders being dangerous, they are a threat to all air traffic over the Baltic Sea," she said.

Having their transponders switched off turns the aircraft invisible to most radars used by civil air traffic control.

Kaljurand said the ambassador always replies that he will inform Moscow.

"He is yet to give a thorough, rational, logical answer," she added.

Justice Minister and former Defence Minister Urmas Reinsalu (IRL) signed a memorandum with the other two Baltic justice ministers on cooperation to submit reparation demands to Russia.

Kaljurand then responded that «The foreign ministry and Estonian government are not intending to take actual practical steps regarding that.»

As Foreign Minister, Kaljurand has continued the work of former ministers to sign a border treaty between Estonia and Russia.

The government's bill includes two treaties and a separate agreement on the delimitation of maritime areas near Narva and the Gulf of Finland.

The ratification of the bill, which would establish the state border between Estonia and Russia, requires a two-thirds majority in Parliament.

For example, according to a poll by TNS Emor in December 2015, 20.3 percent of the respondents wanted to see her as president, with Edgar Savisaar (12.6 percent) in second, followed by Siim Kallas (10.6 percent) and Indrek Tarand (9.5 percent).

Kaljurand was the most popular candidate among polled Estonians across all genders, ages, levels of education and income brackets, except for those making 300 or less euros per month.

Eventually Kaljurand announced her interest in running, but as the Reform Party had multiple candidates to choose from, Kaljurand suggested that the party would support her in the electoral college while supporting former Prime Minister Siim Kallas in the election in parliament, in case the parliament was unable to make a decision.

However, the Reform Party decided to support Kallas both in the parliament and in the electoral college.

After the decision was made by the party, Kaljurand announced that she would step down from her position as Minister of Foreign Affairs and would run for presidency without the support of the Reform Party.

Ahead of the presidential election in 2016, many polls indicated strong support for Kaljurand, even though she had not announced her candidacy.

Despite the Reform Party choosing to support former Prime Minister Siim Kallas, in a survey conducted by TNS Emor for daily Postimees at the beginning of September 2016, 40% of Estonians said they wanted to see Marina Kaljurand become president, while only 18% supported the Reform Party’s official candidate, Siim Kallas.

In the election, Kaljurand placed fourth with 75 votes and did not advance to the second round of voting.

However, as the electoral college could not make a decision between Kallas and Allar Jõks, the election returned to the parliament for another round and the nomination procedure started over.

After hearing the results, Kaljurand announced that she would not run again.

After multiple unsuccessful rounds of voting, parliamentary groups decided to propose unaffiliated Kersti Kaljulaid to the position and she was elected unopposed on 30 September 2016.

After the election, Kaljurand returned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as an adviser on cyber security-related matters.

In June 2018, Kalurand announced that she had joined the Social Democratic Party and would take part in elections for Riigikogu and European Parliament in 2019.

Kaljurand was elected as a Member of the European Parliament in 2019.