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Kaja Kallas

The EU鈥檚 top diplomat standing by Kyiv.

As the European Union鈥檚 foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas is the bloc's top diplomat. So when EU leaders gathered in Brussels this week to thrash out a new defence plan for Ukraine, Kallas was in the thick of things.

Before taking up the EU role she was Prime Minister of Estonia, the nation's first female leader. She was born in 1977 in the Estonian capital Tallinn, then part of the Soviet Union, into a family bound up with her country鈥檚 centuries-old struggle for independence. A Russia hawk and fierce critic of Putin, she is already on the Kremlin鈥檚 wanted list.

Mark Coles has been talking with her friends and political allies to understand how Kaja Kallas came to be called "Europe's Iron Lady".

Production Team

Producers: Viv Jones, Chloe Scannapieco, Keiligh Baker, Hugh Sheehan
Editor: Ben Mundy
Sound: Neil Churchill
Production Co-ordinators: Katie Morrison

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14 minutes

Last on

Sun 9 Mar 2025 12:15

Broadcasts

  • Sat 8 Mar 2025 19:00
  • Sun 9 Mar 2025 12:15

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