The windows of the Estonian interior minister’s car were smashed in December. The security police kapo arrested ten people who were suspected of acting on the orders of the Russian authorities.
TALLINN The Russian security service has organized a hybrid operation against Estonia, says the Estonian protection police, Kaitsepolitsieiamet, or kapo.
Kapo did not say what the Russian security services were doing.
As part of the operation, the Estonian interior minister was dissolved Lauri Läänemets and editor-in-chief of the Russian-language version of the Delfi news website Andrei Å umakov car windows.
According to Kapo, those suspected of the acts also gathered information while preparing these acts of damage. In addition, they defaced monuments.
– They try to incite fear and show their power everywhere, Läänemets stated about Russia’s security services to Postimees magazine.
Six suspects arrested
In December–February, the Estonian protection police arrested a total of ten people suspected of the acts. The arrests took place in December, early February and last week.
– The investigation has been started according to the section of the Criminal Code, which deals with endangering state security, the state prosecutor Triinu Olev states in the announcement of the Office of the National Prosecutor.
According to Olev, six suspects have been arrested.
For years, the Russian security services have been trying to stir up tensions in Estonian society, the head of the security police Margo Palloson said in the release.
However, according to him, Russia’s efforts do not have wider support in Estonia. Accidents are committed by individual persons.
– The Russian security services do not care about the fate of these perpetrators. They are used as tools and the consequences are left to them, Palloson stated.
According to him, some of the perpetrators have been recruited through social media, for example, to vandalize monuments.