Estonia will close all its border crossing points with Russia from December 1, its foreign minister said on Sunday, following a suspected sabotage attack on an Estonian defense company that Tallinn blamed on Moscow.
Estonian authorities detained eight people overnight on suspicion of an attempted arson attack on drone maker Threod Systems that they said had been ordered by Russia’s GRU military intelligence service.
The government said an attempted attack had been carried out early Saturday against Threod Systems in Viimsi, north of the capital, Tallinn, “with the aim of causing an explosion and setting the building on fire.”
“If Russia continues its hybrid operations in Estonia, and we know that Russian intelligence services exploit border crossings to exert influence over people, we must be prepared to reduce the risks we face,” Prime Minister Kristen Michal said in a statement.
“Closing the border would reduce the threat to people in Estonia and send a clear message that attacks on Estonia’s defense industry and defense capabilities are unacceptable,” Michal added.
In Moscow, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told state news agency TASS that if Estonia truly shut its border it would be yet another demonstration of Russophobia.
.”..If these are their real plans, then they fit into yet another bout of aggressive and unrestrained Russophobia,” TASS quoted Zakharova as saying.
