The Estonian Internal Security Service (KaPo), which is responsible for defending the constitutional order and counterintelligence, outlined in its traditional annual report the destructive role of the Russian Federation for the national security of the Republic.
This was reported by the press service of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine.
In the section “Defending the Constitutional Order”, the chapter “The Kremlin Influence Operations in Estonia” is the first, outlining the approaches used by Russia in 2020, in particular in the context of spreading disinformation about COVID-19 or celebrating the “Great Victory”.
Estonian law enforcement officers specified that the Kremlin is trying to intensify the Russian Orthodox Churche (ROC) influence on neighboring countries, with the Estonian direction being one of the priorities.
Of particular concern is Russia's growing commitment to work with young people, especially Russian-speaking ones. The KaPo clearly defines Russia's persistent desire to deepen the division of the Estonian society, first of all on the basis of the language (”The Kremlin’s desire to maintain segregated bi-lingual education in Estonia in order to divide society has not disappeared...”). Diplomats of the Russian Embassy in Estonia are actively taking care of such projects.
According to KaPo analysts, the activity of the FSB due to the launch of anti-Covid measures in Estonia was partially paralyzed. Moreover, attempts by some FSB units on the border to ignore the warnings of infectious disease specialists ended in hospitalization of many “Chekists”. As a result, Russian spies were forced to replace the face-to-face communication with their secret assistants with e-mail or social media.
The report also says that, taking into consideration the gradual restoration and normalization of life in European countries, we should expect intensification of Russia's cyber attacks on Estonian state structures.