Person

Lennart Meri

1929–2006 · 20th century

Lennart Meri was an Estonian writer and film-maker who became the country's first president after the restoration of independence, serving from 1992 to 2001. Deported to Siberia as a child, he later wrote and filmed on the Finno-Ugric peoples. As foreign minister and president he steered Estonia towards the West, negotiating the withdrawal of Russian troops in 1994.

Lennart Meri
Image: Jaan Künnap · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

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Republic of EstoniaDecline

See also

Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Lennart Meri. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/lennart-meri
MLA
“Lennart Meri.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/lennart-meri. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Lennart Meri.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/lennart-meri.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Lennart Meri’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/lennart-meri (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻