Edited sentence: " It has been argued by peace-making bodies such as the Oxford Research Group that the situation could, without Van Der Stoel's personal involvement, have developed into something like the catastrophic collapse of the former Yugoslavia.In that capacity he was able to intervene, in 1993, in the fragile new state of Estonia.Responding quickly, at the invitation of the Estonian government, the High Commissioner shuttled between both sides, securing agreements that removed a great deal of the tension and preserved Estonia's territorial integrity.The Economist noted that "Mr Van Der Stoel achieved something remarkable... a modicum of trust between would-be warring parties.The nationalist government had introduced measures disenfranchising a large part of the sizeable Russian minority.This in turn led the government of neighbouring Russia cut off gas supplies and to threaten to intervene, if necessary, to protect ethnic Russians