Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas announced on Tuesday, the 20th of February, that the country’s security services had thwarted a Russian hybrid operation that resulted in damage to property and desecration of monuments, including attacks on the cars of Interior Minister Lauri Läänemets and news website Delfi editor Andrei Shumakov, reports Politico.
“We know that the Kremlin is targeting all democratic societies. Our answer: be open and reveal their methods. This is the way to deter harmful actions and make us resilient,” Kallas wrote on X.
State prosecutor Triinu Olev announced that ten persons have been detained, including both Russian citizens and citizens with dual Russian and Estonian citizenship; six remain in custody.
The Russian operation was aimed at creating fear and tension in Estonian society,
but failed, said the Estonian Internal Security Service (ISS).
The perpetrators of the vandalism were often recruited through social media, said Margo Palloson, Director of the ISS, urging the public to help and report suspicious activities online to the ISS. He pointed out that Russia took advantage of the local people and left them alone to deal with the consequences.
Russia disputed Estonia’s claims, with Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova calling them “mirror-world news” to Politico.
Zakharova accused the Estonian regime of sponsoring Ukrainian President Zelenskyy’s terrorism, pursuing a Russophobic policy, imposing sanctions against Russia, “and then making noise about broken windows? This is a theatre of the absurd,” she said.
The Estonian foreign ministry said on Tuesday that it would summon the Russian representative in Estonia.
The Latvian State Security Service (VDD) also detained an Estonian-Russian national for defacing a World War II monument to Latvian soldiers with red paint. The VDD opened a criminal case against him on charges of helping Russian intelligence to act against Latvia.
Estonia’s efforts to crack down on Russian activities in the Baltics come at a time when Russia has put Kallas and several Latvian, Lithuanian MPs on a wanted list for “desecrating history”
Also read: BNN ANALYSES | Russia “searches” for 29 Lithuanian officials, who are advised to “carefully” plan their travels now
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