Mart Helme ([ˈmɑrt ˈhelme], born 31 October 1949[1]) is an Estonian politician, diplomat and historian who served as the Minister of the Interior from 2019 to 2020.

In his youth, Helme played in several bands, including Hübriid (which also featured future 2 Quick Start singer-songwriter Pearu Paulus).

[9] After EKRE's receiving of 17.8% of the votes in the 2019 parliamentary election and the subsequent inclusion in the governing coalition, Helme was appointed to Jüri Ratas' second cabinet as Estonia's interior minister.

[20] On 27 February 2020, Helme stated at a government press conference that the common cold had been renamed as the coronavirus and that in his youth nothing like that existed.

He recommended wearing warm socks and mustard patches as well as spreading goose fat on one's chest as treatments for the virus.

[21] In an October 2020 interview with Deutsche Welle, while being in the role of the Interior Minister, Helme stated that the homosexual people in Estonia should rather go "run around in Sweden" and that he "doesn't view them friendly".

This drew strong criticism in the media, the political spectrum and the President, who stated that someone with such opinions is unfit to serve as a government minister.

Condemnation was swift from politicians of several parties and also the former president, Toomas Hendrik Ilves who Tweeted that this is "how a right-wing extremist fishes for Russian votes."

According to the results of an epidemiological survey published last year, Estonia ranked third in the EU for number of new HIV cases in 2019, behind just Malta and Latvia.