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Estonia slams Russian 'sabotage' after arson attack on defence company / Photo: © GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File
Estonia slams Russian 'sabotage' after arson attack on defence company
Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna on Tuesday accused Russia of "sabotage" following an August arson attack on a defence company, Milrem Robotics, a claim the Kremlin immediately rejected.
"We can conclude with certainty that the arson attack... in Tallinn was an act of sabotage ordered by the special services of the Russian Federation," he wrote on X.
The Kremlin dismissed Estonia's accusation.
"Such statements are baseless, ill-considered, have absolutely no relation to reality, and lack any form of reasoning. Consequently, we cannot and will not take such statements seriously," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in response to an AFP question.
Tsahkna added that the perpetrators of the attack had been apprehended and "no longer pose a threat", and that Estonia had summoned the Russian ambassador.
"This act of sabotage is part of Russia's broader campaign across Europe, aimed at intimidating us and weakening our support for Ukraine," he wrote.
Estonia, an EU and NATO member state along the alliance's eastern flank, has accused Russia of several hybrid provocations since the beginning of Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Along with its neighbours, Latvia and Lithuania, it has ramped up its investment in defence in the years since and remains a staunch ally of Kyiv.
NATO chief Mark Rutte, speaking to journalists after Estonia's accusation, said that "Russia continues its reckless campaign of hostile actions against NATO allies. It is trying to weaken our resolve and stop our support for Ukraine."
He added: "But Russia is failing. It is failing on the battlefield in Ukraine and it is failing to undermine our unity and support for Ukraine."
The attack was condemned by several of Estonia's allies, who also reaffirmed their support for Ukraine.
"Russia's fingerprints are all over," Lithuanian foreign minister Kestutis Budrys wrote on X, adding that Moscow's "hostile activities do not stop at Ukraine's borders".
Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics added that "more support for Ukraine ... will be needed and must be provided".
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson called the attribution of the attack "extremely serious" and "directed against Europe as a whole.
A.S. Leite--JDB
