ST. PETERSBURG, September 25. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin commented on Estonian Defense Minister’s statements about readiness to fight Russia by saying that "the circus is gone, but the clowns remain."

"This is the case, you know, when we jokingly say: ‘The circus is gone, but the clowns remain.’ This is political clownery," the Russian leader stressed.

Putin noted that Estonia’s total population is about 1.3 million. "The Russian army alone - and I’m not even talking about the population - has 1,535,000 personnel. Estonia has 1.3 million citizens, including infants and elderly people. Clearly, this is utter nonsense, complete absurdity. Unfortunately, these are the people we have to deal with in Western Europe today," the Russian president said.