Estonia's counterintelligence service has recently warned that sabotage operations orchestrated by Russian special services have reached a new and dangerous phase in Europe, with targets no longer being purely symbolic. Talking Europe sits down with the country's foreign minister, Margus Tsahkna, to discuss the security situation in Estonia and the European Union in general.
Speaking of undercover operations against Estonia attributed to Russian special services, Tsahkna says: "We have witnessed terrorist attacks, sabotage attacks, against the defence industry companies. We just attributed, three weeks ago, one serious attack against our defence industry company organised by the Russian secret services. We caught these three guys. They are in prison now. We see an increase in the number of these attacks. But we also see that they are not against the Baltic States as much as against Europe as a whole. We (in the Baltics) are not at the top of this list. Russia is increasing the pressure on Europe. This is about terror attacks, sabotage attacks, cyberattacks, and any kind of disinformation to divide our unity and to divide our societies as well."
Tsahkna distinguishes between this hybrid war and Russia’s actual military capabilities, which he implies have been degraded by its involvement in Ukraine.
"When I served as a defence minister in 2016-2017, we had permanently 120,000 Russian troops on the other side of our borders, very close, ready to go within 48 hours. These troops were literally sent to Ukraine; they are not existing anymore. They are dead," he says.
Tsahkna goes on: "We know exactly what to do on the military level. We have NATO troops. Actually, French troops are located in Estonia. They are 100 percent integrated with our troops. We have very solid NATO regional defence plans. So this is not the main concern. The main concern now is to keep all of us in Europe united. And we need to understand that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin is testing all of us. He's very carefully watching how we are acting, how united we are, how we are responding."
On diplomatic moves to try to reach a ceasefire in Ukraine, Tsahkna warns that Europe cannot, and should not, become a kind of neutral arbiter.
"Europe is taking part in initiatives, and we just had a meeting in Oslo, together with the US representative and President Zelensky and also the Nordic presidents, prime ministers and the Norwegian prime minister, " Tsahkna says. "So it's not about whether Europe is connected. Of course, we must be there. But we must also understand the position. We cannot let ourselves be dragged into the mediating position that Putin really wants: appointing a special envoy and then trying to mediate between Ukraine and Russia. So we are part of the process, of course, but we are not in the mediating position, a so-called neutral position, in which we would somehow stop our sanctions or give the frozen assets back to Russia. So this is important to understand. "
Tsahkna also has a few observations about the recent protests, violence and unrest in France.
"Elections are coming next year in France that are so important for Europe," he notes. "Of course, using violence is not a solution. And in Estonia we have been paying a lot of attention to keeping our society united, not divided. How to not go to the way of radicalisation. Because divisions in society are making you weaker as a country and as a nation. But of course, it's a matter for France and for the French how to have this dialogue about the future. You know, I'm coming from [the] north. We are very calm people!"
Programme prepared by Oihana Almandoz, Isabelle Romero, Perrine Desplats and Ahmed Hassaine