Estonia swears in biologist-turned-banker Kersti Kaljulaid as first female president

Estonia’s Kersti Kaljulaid, a non-aligned EU auditor and trained biologist, was on Monday sworn in as the first female president of the tech-savvy Baltic state.

The 46-year-old takes over the largely ceremonial role as the Nato and eurozone nation gears up to hold the EU’s rotating presidency next July.

“Our main concern will always be security,” she told parliament as regional concerns grow over a resurgent Russia.

“Many processes that cause us anxiety, to put it mildly, take place in our immediate neighbourhood.”

Moscow jangled nerves in this Baltic eurozone state at the weekend with its latest deployment of nuclear-capable Iskander missiles to its nearby Kaliningrad exclave.

Concerns about Russia have surged in Estonia and its Baltic neighbours Lithuania and Latvia - all members of Nato members since 2004 - following Moscow’s 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.

Kaljulaid was elected by parliament last week as a dark horse candidate after a month-long political stalemate during which other contenders failed to garner enough support.