A 48-year-old man who works as a security guard at an Estonian border checkpoint has been sentenced to three years in prison for collaborating with Russia, ERR News reports.
The convicted man, Vyacheslav Yefimov, has both Estonian and Russian citizenship, and the Tartu Regional Court found him guilty of passing information that could harm Estonia’s national security to the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) between 2022 and 2025. The verdict has not yet entered into force.
Yefimov lived in Pechory, Russia, but worked in Estonia, in the waiting area of the Koidula border checkpoint. The salary the man received in Estonia was several times higher than the average salary in the Pskov region, and an easy border crossing was important to him. Yefimov feared that if he refused to cooperate, the FSB would not allow him to do so or would take away his passport.
According to the court ruling, Yefimov agreed to cooperate with the FSB officer no later than the fall of 2022, and signed a cooperation agreement that provided for the performance of the duties of an operational agent, and was fully aware of who he was cooperating with. The transfer of information continued until the 10th of September, 2025, when Yefimov was detained. During this time, he repeatedly met with the FSB officer attached to him, and also communicated with him by telephone. On approximately 15-20 occasions, Yefimov transferred certain intelligence information to the FSB. Among the information transferred was information about the Koidula border checkpoint, its personnel, border infrastructure and activities in the border area. Information was also transferred about the residences and vehicles of personnel, construction and power supply works, and other information.
During interrogation by the Estonian Internal Security Service (ISS), Yefimov expressed regret for his cooperation with the FSB.
Prosecutor Gerd Raudsepp told ERR that Yefimov’s case proves that it is not only the passing of state secrets that is punishable. He noted that people often believe that if state secrets are not passed on, nothing criminal has been committed: “In fact, it is also punishable to knowingly collect and transmit information that is not secret in itself but is requested and used by a foreign intelligence service.” The prosecutor stressed that the key factor in such cases is awareness of who the information was passed on to – if someone knows that the interlocutor is an FSB officer, this is not a simple conversation, but deliberate participation in espionage activities against Estonia.
Taavi Narits, Deputy Director General of the ISS, stressed that in cases where the FSB is concerned, the ISS should be contacted.
Yefimov was also involved in a bribery scheme. Between March and November 2024, he bribed another employee of the waiting area several times to ensure that trucks belonging to his acquaintance could cross the border without waiting in line.
It was the bribery investigation that led to Yefimov’s arrest and the discovery of his anti-state activities.
Narits warned against bribery, saying that many people living in Russia but working in Estonia are easily influenced. He noted that these people often take with them to Estonia the deep-rooted corruption in Russia, which also makes it easier for Russian services to influence and recruit them, which in turn poses a direct threat to Estonia.
The ISS believes that this was a successful counterintelligence operation, as it was also possible to identify the specific FSB officer who collaborated with Yefimov. The service noted that it is important to make the identities of the individuals involved public in order to make Estonian residents crossing the border more careful.
Thus, Yefimov both admitted his guilt and cooperated with investigators, which the court took into account when determining the prison term. Narits noted that Yefimov should have turned to the ISS at the very moment the FSB approached him, and a solution to the difficult situation would certainly have been found.
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