Dead | Vaino Väljas, the last communist leader of Soviet Estonia, has died

Soviet Estonia the last leader of the Communist Party ECB Vaino Väljas is dead, says the Estonian public radio ERR. He died on Tuesday.

Väljas was 92 years old. He was born in Hiidenmaa in the municipality of Emmaste in the village of Külaküla in 1931, when Estonia was still independent.

The Soviet Union forced Estonia to become part of itself during the Second World War.

Väljas joined the Communist Party at a young age and had a long career in its service. The career peaked in the late 1980s during the years of the Estonian Singing Revolution, which eventually led to the re-independence of Estonia in August 1991.

in the 1980s Väljas worked as the Soviet ambassador in Venezuela and Nicaragua.

In 1988, he was appointed to the leadership of the ECB, i.e. the 1st secretary of the party's Central Committee, when the old communist leader Karl Vaino was deposed and transferred to Moscow. In the same year, the declaration of sovereignty of the Estonian Socialist Soviet Republic was drawn up.

Väljas, the communist leader of Soviet Estonia, was there, while the leader of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev visited Finland in October 1989. The change of times was illustrated by the fact that Väljas also had a one-on-one meeting with the president Mauno Koiviston with.

Vaino Väljas enjoyed the respect of Estonians because he contributed to the re-independence of Estonia as a so-called national communist and was ready to withdraw from positions of power.

Estonian president Alar Karis expressed his condolences to Väljas's family on Tuesday. According to ERR, Karis stated that Väljas “helped pave the way for the restoration of Estonia's independence”.

On the other hand, Karis also stated that Väljas was “very quiet” who “could have remembered many things that would open important pages in our recent history”.