General information
I am mostly interested in foreign and security policy, and I would like to promote these issues also in the Riigikogu. In the various jobs I have had, I have been to tens of European and Asian countries in connection with my work, and I feel at ease in international company. I consider it important to expand the foreign policy reach of Estonia to the rapidly developing and strategically important regions of the world, first of all in order to develop business relations.
University of Tartu 1989, special needs education (unfinished);
University of Tartu 1993, law (unfinished);
Sichuan Union University 1996–1998, Chinese language;
Ealing Tertiary College, transport management 1999;
London University, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), MSc (Asian Politics) 2005
agricultural and construction worker, sales agent in Australia 1995;
Sichuan Union University and China Southwest Airlines (China), teacher of English 1996–1998;
The Baltic Bridge (London), bus driver and entrepreneur (tourism services) 1998–2001;
Estonian Public Broadcasting, freelance Great Britain correspondent, commentator of Middle East and Asian politics 1998–2005;
Radio Free Europe, freelance Great Britain correspondent 2002–2004;
Ministry of Defence, International Co-operation Department, Adviser 2005–2007;
Adviser to the Minister of Finance 2007–2009;
Representation of the European Union in China and Mongolia 2009–2011;
International Centre for Defence Studies, Researcher 2011–2013;
Mayor of Kuressaare 2013–2015;
Minister of Defence 2015–2016
Saaremaa Rural Municipality Council 2017–, also elected to Kuressaare City Council 2013
Organised bicycle tours: Lhasa-Hong Kong 1994;
Mongolia, China, Nepal 2002;
Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, Egypt 2004;
Nepal, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Iran 2007;
Iran, United Arabian Emirates (UAE), Oman, Yemen, Djibouti, Ethiopia 2011;
Tanzania, Zambia, Botswana, Namibia 2014.
One of the authors of travel books "Ehh, uhhuduur!: kõik on võimalik, kuni pole tõestatud vastupidist" ("Ehh, uhhuduur!: Everything Is Possible Until Proven Otherwise", 2007) and "Ehh, uhhuduur!: ratastel Teheranist Addis Abebasse" ("Ehh, uhhuduur!: On Bikes from Teheran to Addis Abeba", 2011);
participant in the DVD based on the bicycle tour "Ehh, uhhuduur. 1, Mongoolia-Hiina-Tiibet : kõik on võimalik, kuni pole tõestatud vastupidist" ("Ehh, uhhuduur. 1, Mongolia-China-Tibet : Everything Is Possible Until Proven Otherwise", 2008). Translated textbook "The History of European Law" by E. Anners (1995).
Student Corporation Sakala alumnus.