My Serpentine Swim With the Estonian Ambassador – And Why Russian Diplomats Weren’t Invited | The Telegraph

Estonia’s Independence Day falls on Feb 24. This year was the country’s 105th celebration.

To mark the occasion, Tallinn’s ambassador to the UK invited a small number of guests for a swim in the Serpentine, the lake in the center of London’s Hyde Park, to embrace the environment and a sense of well-being, all to help build one’s resilience, Estonian style.

The date also marked exactly a year from the start of Russia’s full invasion of Ukraine.

Estonia’s ambassador, Viljar Lubi, intended the morning to show his country’s solidarity with the people of Ukraine.

The Telegraph’s Associate Editor for Defence, Dominic Nicholls, was invited to don his Bermuda shorts and enjoy the bracing effect of immersion in near-freezing water, to build his personal resilience.

While in the water and still able to speak, he took the opportunity to interview Mr. Lubi and ask whether the ambassador to Russia had similarly been invited.