Riga/Tallinn/Vilnius  - Senior politicians in the three small Baltic states added their voices to the chorus of congratulations for Barack Obama after his US election victory Wednesday.

There was unanimity in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania that the result offered a chance to deepen an already warm transatlantic relationship.

Estonian foreign minister Urmas Paet told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa: "We congratulate Obama and his team on this victory. Bilateral relations between Estonia and the US will be as active, good and deep as they have been so far."

Riga/Tallinn/Vilnius  - Baltic leaders voiced hope Wednesday that ties with the US will strengthen further with Barack Obama as president, including cooperation in confronting Russia.

Top politicians in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania all said the outcome of Tuesday's election offered a chance to deepen an already warm trans-Atlantic relationship.

Congratulating Obama, Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet said there is "a window of opportunity for even more active coordination and cooperation of foreign policy between the European Union and the United States, especially when we speak about issues like Afghanistan or policies vis-a-vis Russia."

Tallinn - Estonian residents are obtaining Russian citizenship at nearly twice the rate they are claiming Estonian citizenship, according to figures released Friday.

Newspaper Eesti Paevaleht reported that the Russian embassy in Tallinn had granted Russian citizenship to 3,700 people during the last twelve months, while Estonian government figures showed that 1,600 people had acquired Estonian citizenship since January this year.

The newspaper quoted Russian embassy spokesman Maxim Kozlov who said "Estonia is one of the leading places in the world in terms of adoption of Russian citizenship."

Tallinn - Estonia has already given the world the internet telephone service Skype and recently opened a NATO cyberdefence academy in its capital, Tallinn.

Now the Baltic nation, which is so in love with all things online that it sometimes brands itself "e-stonia," has come up with another internet first - a virtual travel fair.

The inaugural online travel fair, entitled "Travel Expo," runs October 27 through November 5. It is the idea of Estonian company Online Expo, run by young entrepreneurs Anna Lepp and Sergei Semjonov.

Tallinn - The Estonian economy is set to remain in recession until 2010 according to a forecast published Wednesday by the Estonian central bank, Eesti Pank.

According to the base scenario of Eesti Pank's 2008 autumn forecast, Estonia's gross domestic product will decline by 1.8 per cent in 2008 and by 2.1 per cent in 2009.

The economy should pick up again either at the end of 2009 or at the beginning of 2010, resulting in an average economic growth rate for 2010 of 3 per cent, Eesti Pank believes.

Tallinn - Estonian taxpayers have been subsidizing the Estonian first lady's love of rollerblading to the tune of nearly 30,000 kroons (2,500 US dollars), it was reported Tuesday.

A report in the Estonian business daily Aripaev said the public money was spent on plane tickets and accommodation for Evelin Ilves, wife of Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves, on recent trips during which she took part in rollerblading marathons.

The office of the president confirmed to dpa Deutsche Presse- Agentur that the figures quoted by the press were accurate, but noted that the trips had included "official duties" as well as the freewheeling events.