The Estonian Internal Security Service (ISS/KAPO) detained a record number of people cooperating with Russian intelligence services last year, writes the ERR News.
ISS/KAPO will publish its annual report on the 13th of April, which provides an overview of Estonia’s security environment, highlighting the main threats, trends and developments in 2025. Service representative Marta Tuul said that since Russian services cannot operate directly in Estonian territory, they are looking for other ways. This means that they are looking for people who will carry out certain actions on behalf of Russian services. The large number of people detained in 2025 indicates that the Russians are not succeeding in expanding their influence, and ISS/KAPO officials are detecting these people quickly enough.
Tuul explained that social networks have changed recruitment methods and are used as a tool or channel for finding people willing to cooperate. Russians can find people on social networks who will perform a specific task once, for example, they will try to destroy or damage memorial sites.
A representative of the Security Service pointed out that traveling to Russia poses an increased risk,
because the border guards have operational agents who profile and assess people, and recruitment attempts can be made at border checkpoints. According to Tuul, Estonia has worked seriously to reduce Russian influence activities, and several propaganda media outlets have been closed, including Sputnik and Baltnews. This has forced Russia to focus more on using social networks.
Tuul pointed out that it was on social networks that there were attempts to create false messages, for example, about bomb threats in schools or possible attacks on Narva. “There is absolutely no real support or following for this in Estonia. They may try, but there is no basis or real substance to it,” added the ISS/KAPO spokesperson.
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