Estonia closes border with Russia after failed arson attempt
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Al Jazeera, TimesLIVE, Business Day (South Africa), L’essentiel and Rádio Moçambique
All border crossings between Estonia and Russia will close from 1 December, according to Al Jazeera. Tallinn blames the GRU, Russian military intelligence, for preparing an arson attack on drone company Threod Systems, and eight suspects were arrested overnight. Moscow has not yet commented.
On X, Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna warned that acts of intimidation and destabilisation will not go unpunished. He claims to have evidence that Russian military intelligence ordered the attack, which took place on Friday, and argues that the closure will reduce Moscow’s capacity to carry out hostile activities and slow the circumvention of sanctions.
Latvian Interior Minister Janis Dombrava welcomed the arrest of several Latvians, citizens or not, by Estonian security services, and said some residents could commit serious crimes on Moscow’s behalf. Marko Mihkelson, chair of the foreign affairs committee of the Estonian Parliament, sees in this proof of how quickly Tallinn reacted and calls for asymmetric European responses beyond diplomacy alone.
Frontex records nearly one million legal crossings into the EU by Russians since the invasion of Ukraine, about two-thirds of them through Estonia or Finland. Three crossings currently remain open: Narva, Luhamaa and Koidula. The decision comes two days after the ban imposed on 13 November on Russian and Belarusian skiers, while Moscow repeatedly rejects European suspicions linked to sabotage.
