Russia has launched a wanted notice against Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, according to a notice visible Tuesday on the website of the Ministry of the Interior, a new illustration of tensions with the Baltic countries since the attack on the Kremlin in Ukraine. Ms. Kallas is being prosecuted in Russia in “a criminal case”, indicates this notice, which does not specify what crime or offense the leader is accused of.
“Destruction and degradation of monuments (tribute) to Soviet soldiers”
The Estonian Secretary of State, Taimar Peterkop, was also targeted by a wanted poster, as well as the Minister of Culture of Lithuania, Simonas Kairys. A Russian security source, quoted anonymously by the state news agency TASS, said that the two Estonian officials and the Lithuanian minister were being prosecuted for “destruction and damage to monuments (tribute) to Soviet soldiers” of the Second World War.
In recent years, several of these monuments inherited by the USSR after the Second World War have been dismantled in the Baltic countries, as a sign of rejection of the Soviet period, these states considering having been occupied by the USSR. A Russian minority resides in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, three former Soviet republics now members of the EU and NATO which have tense relations with Moscow. These relations have further deteriorated with the conflict in Ukraine. The Baltic countries, which consider the threat of a Russian invasion to be real, actively support kyiv in its fight against the Russian army.
Last week, Russia summoned the charges d’affaires of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, accusing them of “sabotage” the Russian presidential election in March by refusing to ensure the security of polling stations in Russian embassies on their territory. ground. In mid-January, Latvia and Estonia decided to end their legal assistance agreements with Russia, with officials from these two countries citing Moscow’s attack on Ukraine as the reason.
Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky toured the Baltics in January. In January, Estonia also refused to extend the residence permit of the head of the Estonian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, a Russian citizen, believing that he represented a risk to national security.