An Estonian volunteer fighting against Russia in Ukraine was killed in action on 25 June 2025, ERR reports. Alo Klaassepp, 25, was killed in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region near the town of Borova. He was fighting as part of the international battalion of Ukraine’s 3rd Assault Brigade. Klaassepp, who was from Pärnu, joined the Armed Forces…
Estonia’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) checked around 2,000 bank statements without legal authority, Chancellor of Justice Ülle Madise announced, ERR reports. FIU had obtained full bank statements via the data exchange layer connected to the enforcement register, whereas the law only allows FIU access to basic information about bank accounts. FIU told ERR that it…
The Estonian government has rejected an offer to buy shares in Latvia’s national air carrier, airBaltic, LSM reports. Estonia’s Infrastructure Minister, Kuldar Leis, explained that the decision was due to the fact that airBaltic’s change of management had not been completed and its financial situation remained problematic. He said that Estonia would not raise airport…
Estonian entrepreneur Urmas Sõõrumaa has withdrawn his candidacy for mayor of Tallinn, ERR reports. Earlier, Sõõrumaa proposed forming a technocratic city government that would follow guidelines from the Estonian Reform Party and the Estonian Centre Party (Keskerakond) until the local elections in October 2025. Reform’s current coalition partner, the Social Democratic Party (SDE), accused Reform…
The coordination committee of the European Commission’s Connecting Europe Facility has approved another EUR 295.5mn of funding for the Baltic railway project, Rail Baltica, LSM reports. Of the total, EUR 47.1mn will go to Estonia, EUR 153.5mn to Latvia, and EUR 94.9mn to Lithuania. The project coordinator, RB Rail, said that the funds would be…
Estonian ride-hailing and courier service company Bolt generated a turnover of EUR 1.99bn in 2024, which was up 17% from EUR 1.7bn in 2023, ERR reported. Ride-hailing services accounted for 82% of total revenue. The company’s operating loss reduced to EUR 87.7mn from EUR 94.3mn in 2023. Bolt’s annual net loss amounted to EUR 102.6mn…
A court in Estonia has found two Moldovan nationals guilty of an arson attack against a Ukrainian restaurant in Tallinn in January 2025, ERR reports. The two men were arrested in Italy in February 2025. One of the defendants told prosecutors that he was tasked by persons connected to Russian military intelligence (GRU) to firebomb…
Lithuanian prosecutors accuse three foreign nationals of desecrating a monument to anti-Soviet resistance leader Adolfas Ramanauskas in January 2024 under orders from Russian military intelligence (GRU), BNS reports. The three suspects, now under custody, are two dual Estonian-Russian citizens and a Russian citizen residing in Tallinn. The group smeared the monument in the southern Lithuanian…
Estonian Finance Minister Jürgen Ligi said that public outcry over inflation was misplaced, ERR reports. He argued that complaining about rising prices was “as stupid as cursing bad weather when you wake up in the morning.” Ligi stressed that most prices were not under government control, and that the government could thus neither cause nor…
