KESKfEST is bringing hundreds of singers, dancers, designers and artists to Toronto for a four-day celebration as the C$56 million Keskus International Estonian Centre enters the final stretch of construction.

Toronto’s Annex neighbourhood is becoming a showcase for Estonian culture as a four-day festival fills venues along the city’s Bloor Street Culture Corridor with music, dance, fashion, film, theatre and public debate.

KESKfEST, running from 20 to 23 August, comes as work nears completion on the Keskus International Estonian Centre, a 36,000-square-foot cultural complex being built at 9 Madison Avenue. A festival tent across the road will serve as one of the event’s main gathering points.

Continue reading An Estonian festival takes over Toronto as the new cultural centre nears completion at Estonian World.

On 20 August 1991, Estonia declared formal independence during the Soviet military coup attempt in Moscow, reconstituting the pre-1940 state.

In the evening of 20 August 1991, Estonian politicians declared the nation’s independence – even as Soviet tanks were rolling through the countryside to quell the independence movement and the Soviet paratroopers were taking charge of the Tallinn TV Tower, preparing to cut off communication channels.

The fate of Estonia was on peril. Yet, most Estonian politicians and the greater part of the public showed great resolve in the face of this danger.

Estonian volunteers surrounded the TV Tower and wouldn’t let themselves to be intimidated by the Soviet troops.

Continue reading Estonia celebrates the restoration of independence at Estonian World.

A Saudi Arabian retail group has won a €135.25 million auction for two factories belonging to the bankrupt Estonian dairy producer E-Piim, opening the way for its cheese to be sold across the Gulf.

The factories in Paide and Põltsamaa were put up for sale as part of the bankruptcy proceedings of AS E-Piim Tootmine.

BinDawood Holding, a family-controlled group listed on the Saudi Exchange, said its Estonian subsidiary, JUUST & JUBN OÜ, had submitted the winning bid at the public auction.

The deal covers dairy production property, machinery and other operating assets, as well as contractual rights and stakes in affiliated companies.

Continue reading A Saudi retail giant buys Estonian dairy plants for €135m at Estonian World.

Estonia’s chancellor of justice, Ülle Madise, has formally announced her presidential bid, entering the race with the backing of 62 MPs and a promise to “safeguard what makes Estonia Estonia”.

Madise, one of the country’s most prominent constitutional authorities, formally announced on Monday that she would stand for president.

Her declaration places her at the head of the field to succeed Alar Karis, who has said he will not seek a second term. Sixty-two members of the 101-seat Estonian parliament have already signed in support of nominating Madise, although she would need 68 votes to be elected by parliament.

Continue reading Ülle Madise enters the race to become Estonia’s next president at Estonian World.

Chilean singer-songwriter Tomás del Real and Argentine musician Pepi Prieto have found a creative home in the Estonian town of Viljandi, drawing inspiration from the city’s quiet pace and close-knit music scene.

It begins with a charango, a 10-stringed South American instrument traditionally made from an armadillo shell, although modern versions are more often made of wood, which most agree sounds better. It was December in Estonia, the darkest time of the year, when Tomás del Real received a call from his friend and fellow musician Pepi Prieto about putting the finishing touches on a track. The song “Canto Oscuro” meant a lot to Pepi, who is from Buenos Aires.

Continue reading Made in Estonia with South American soul at Estonian World.

Estonia will commemorate the 35th anniversary of the restoration of its independence with ceremonies at Toompea, foreign dignitaries and a concert bringing folk traditions into the electronic age.

At 11:03pm on 20 August 1991, Estonia’s Supreme Council voted to restore the country’s national independence. Sixty-nine members supported the resolution, re-establishing the republic first proclaimed on 24 February 1918 after more than five decades of Soviet occupation.

Thirty-five years later, the anniversary will be marked at Toompea in Tallinn with the raising of the national flag, a formal parliamentary sitting and the unveiling of a commemorative plaque. The president of Iceland and the speakers of the Latvian and Lithuanian parliaments will be among the guests.

Continue reading Estonia to mark 35 years since the restoration of independence at Estonian World.

According to a preliminary estimate, Estonia’s gross domestic product grew by 2.1% in the second quarter of 2026 compared with the same period a year earlier.

“The GDP flash estimate shows that the economic recovery continued in the second quarter at a pace similar to that recorded in the first,” Robert Müürsepp, the head of the national accounts service at Statistics Estonia, the country’s official statistics agency, said in a statement.

Compared with the first quarter of 2026, GDP grew by 0.4% after adjustment for seasonal and working-day effects.

Statistics Estonia will publish the official GDP figures for the second quarter on 31 August.

Continue reading Estonia’s GDP grows by 2.1% in Q2 2026 at Estonian World.

In the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Estonian World brings you the latest reactions from Estonia. For updates from 2022, please see a separate article.

15 August 2026 – Estonia provides €340,000 to help Ukrainians through another winter of war

Estonia is providing €340,000 in humanitarian aid to help people living near Ukraine’s front line prepare for winter as Russian attacks continue to damage the country’s energy infrastructure.

The funding will help families keep their homes warm, support livestock through the winter and improve accommodation centres for internally displaced people. It will also provide Ukrainian rescue workers with two mobile emergency support centres where people can warm themselves, access electricity and receive psychological assistance.

Continue reading Updates: Russia’s war against Ukraine – Estonian perspective at Estonian World.

A free preview in Town Hall Square opens the Tallinn Fringe festival’s anniversary celebrations, ahead of a month-long programme of comedy, circus, dance and cabaret across the Estonian capital.

Ten years ago, eight performers staged the Tallinn Fringe’s first edition with no funding and no institutional backing. This month, the festival marks its 10th anniversary with a free public preview in Town Hall Square.

From 3pm on 12 August, the square will host a one-hour curtain-raiser: short performances by festival artists, a chance to meet them afterwards, an early look at this year’s full programme, and light refreshments.

Continue reading From eight performances to 160: the Tallinn Fringe marks its 10th anniversary at Estonian World.

From the cut of a jacket to the shape of public policy, Oksana Tandit sees design as far more than a matter of appearances; one of Estonia’s best-known fashion designers talks slow fashion, circular thinking and why a small country should take design seriously.

Oksana Tandit is one of Estonia’s best-known fashion designers, whose work is defined by timeless elegance, impeccable tailoring and a distinctive character. Over more than two decades, she has developed a signature style in which contemporary classics meet bold ideas and design with substance.

In the interview, she discusses what inspires her, how she works, the values that guide her and what matters most to her as a designer today.

Continue reading The Estonian fashion designer Oksana Tandit on why design is not a luxury at Estonian World.

From family tiramisu recipes and homemade limoncello to Sicilian poetry and electro-tribal dance music, the inaugural Italy Unexpected festival sets out to look beyond the country’s familiar postcard image.

Italy may be one of Estonians’ favourite holiday destinations, but the country is often reduced to a well-worn collection of ancient ruins, Renaissance art, Vespas and perfect plates of pasta. A new cultural festival in Tallinn hopes to venture beyond the clichés.

Taking place at Paavli Kultuurivabrik on 15 August, Italy Unexpected brings together Italian musicians, cooks, dancers and members of the local community for an evening of workshops, live performances and, naturally, plenty of food.

Continue reading A new festival is bringing Italy’s lesser-known flavours and rhythms to Tallinn at Estonian World.

Estonia is to get its first large-scale artificial intelligence computing centre later this year after Nebius, the Nasdaq-listed cloud company, agreed to install 22 megawatts of capacity at a data centre near Tallinn.

The installation at Greenergy Data Centers in Hüüru, Harju County, will be Nebius’s first AI infrastructure deployment in the Baltic states. The companies say it will be the region’s largest AI factory when its first 22MW phase begins operating before the end of 2026.

Despite the industrial label, an AI factory does not manufacture physical products. It is a data centre built around clusters of powerful processors, high-speed networks and cooling systems that provide the computing capacity needed to train and run artificial intelligence models.

Continue reading Estonia to open its first AI factory this year at Estonian World.

Estonia’s leading academic figures have urged parliament to consider Tiit Land, the rector of Tallinn University of Technology, also known as TalTech, as a candidate for president, adding a scientist to a field already testing itself ahead of a September vote in the Estonian parliament.

In an open letter to MPs, the rectors of Estonia’s universities and the heads of its principal academic bodies argued that the country needs a head of state who combines knowledge, statesmanship and a capacity to look beyond day-to-day politics, at a time of a changed security environment, a shrinking population and rapid technological change.

Continue reading Estonian university rectors put forward TalTech’s Tiit Land for president at Estonian World.

According to a recent survey on attitudes towards foreign policy, Estonians’ three most important priorities are strengthening regional cooperation with the Nordic and Baltic countries, strengthening NATO’s collective defence and creating opportunities for Estonian businesses in foreign markets.

Strengthening regional cooperation with the Nordic and Baltic countries is regarded as a priority by 37% of respondents, while strengthening NATO’s collective defence and creating opportunities for Estonian businesses in foreign markets are each regarded as a priority by 36% of respondents.

The next priority areas identified were supporting Ukraine (22%) and promoting values important to Estonia – such as human rights, democracy and freedom of speech – around the world (21%).

Continue reading Survey: Estonians rank Nordic-Baltic cooperation and NATO defence as top foreign policy priorities at Estonian World.

03 August 2026 – 09 August 2026

Not sure where to be this week? Every week, in partnership with Gamma, we present a hand-picked selection of the five most compelling events taking place in and around Tallinn – it’s time to plan your week with purpose.

Make Friends Tallinn

Gruuv, Suur-Karja 4, Tallinn

Wednesday, 5 August, from 7:30pm

BlaBla Language Exchange & Make Friends is a free-flow mingle for anyone up for meeting new people, practising languages and having a good chat, minus the awkward structured stuff.

Continue reading Your Tallinn hit list: the top 5 events this week at Estonian World.

Nearly 100 teenage girls from nine countries – including first-time delegations from the Bahamas and Fiji – have gathered in the small town of Kehtna this week for CyberWizards, an international camp designed to draw more young women into cyber security.

This week, talk in the small Rapla County town of Kehtna has turned to phishing, firewalls and ethical hacking. Ninety-three girls aged between 13 and 16, drawn from nine countries, are spending 3 to 8 August at CyberWizards, an international cyber security camp for girls now in its fourth year.

The camp is organised by Estonia’s Information System Authority, more commonly known as RIA, the state agency responsible for the country’s cyber security, and is aimed at closing one of the technology sector’s more persistent gaps: the shortage of women in the field.

Continue reading The next generation of cyber talent assembles in Estonia at Estonian World.

At the Viinistu Art Museum on Estonia’s northern coast, Estonian painter Anu Muiste’s solo exhibition Form and Play uses surreal, dreamlike imagery to explore motherhood, personal identity and the inescapable gaze of others.

In her new solo show, Form and Play, Anu Muiste has produced a series of striking and surreal paintings that initially toy with abstract and organic forms but ultimately give way to figurative pieces that offer poignant social commentary.

Form and Play consists of 25 paintings strung up in a pair of old fish silos at the Viinistu Art Museum.

Continue reading Review: Anu Muiste’s surreal worlds leave nowhere to hide at Estonian World.

27 July 2026 – 02 August 2026

Not sure where to be this week? Every week, in partnership with Gamma, we present a hand-picked selection of the five most compelling events taking place in and around Tallinn – it’s time to plan your week with purpose.

Multi-Language Exchange Fridays

Rukis, viru 11, Tallinn

Friday, 31 July, from 6pm

The Language Exchange Meetup is a casual, self-directed evening for anyone who wants to practise a language with an actual human being rather than an app, or a judgemental owl.

Continue reading Your Tallinn hit list: the top 5 events this week at Estonian World.

A seemingly accidental pro-Ukraine advertisement by the Estonian meat producer, Rannarootsi Lihatööstus, has sparked a little controversy and hurt the feelings of some of the local Russian apologists.

The company this week published an AI-produced ad on Facebook that depicted two men grilling meat on a beach with plumes of smoke rising in the background – much like the scenes we’re seeing every day from Ukraine. The men are wearing t-shirts bearing the Ukrainian flag, and the tagline of the ad says, “A proper barbecue turns the bitter onion sweet.”

The controversy that some of the Estonian Russian-apologetic politicians tried to stir, based on the ad, was built upon the fact that in some slang vernacular, the word “onion” could mean a Russian person.

Continue reading Estonian meat producer’s accidental pro-Ukraine ad miffs local Russian apologists  at Estonian World.

Indrek Laul, the concert pianist and entrepreneur who revived Estonia’s national piano maker and turned it into an international export brand, has entered the contest to become the country’s next president.

The Juilliard-trained pianist and entrepreneur, backed by 30 prominent Estonians, says he wants to become a consensus candidate capable of uniting political parties, communities and worldviews.

Laul, 58, accepted the nomination after 30 prominent Estonians – drawn from business, academia and the arts – published a letter urging parliament to consider him for the presidency.

The signatories include the conductors Paavo and Kristjan Järvi, the poet Doris Kareva, the composer Erkki-Sven Tüür, the film director Tiina Lokk and several leading figures from Estonian business and technology.

Continue reading Piano maker Indrek Laul enters Estonia’s presidential race at Estonian World.