Russia launched a search warrant against the Prime Minister of Estonia, Kaja Kallas, according to a news article published this Tuesday (02/13/2024) on the website of the Ministry of the Interior, in a new gesture that reflects the tensions with the Baltic countries since the Kremlin began its attack on Ukraine.
According to the information, Kallas, in her position since 2021, is being pursued by a “criminal case”, but without specifying what crime or offense she is accused of. Kallas, 46, is one of the strongest voices within the European Union (EU) and NATO in favor of supplying weapons to Ukraine and toughening sanctions against Russia. In January 2021 she became the first woman to head the Government of the Baltic country, a position she renewed when her party won the legislative elections held in March of last year.
Estonian Secretary of State Taimar Peterkop is also the subject of a search warrant, as is Lithuania’s Culture Minister Simonas Kairys.
A Russian security source, cited by the state news agency TASS, stated that the two Estonian officials and the Lithuanian minister were accused of “destruction and degradation of monuments.” [en memoria] to the Soviet soldiers” of World War II. Several of these monuments, a legacy of the USSR after the Second World War, have been dismantled in recent years in the Baltic countries, as a rejection of the Soviet period.
A Russian minority resides in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, three former Soviet republics that are currently members of the European Union and NATO and have tense relations with Moscow.
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