The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, has expressed “grave alarm” at the decision of the three Baltic States, Finland, Poland, and Ukraine, to withdraw from the Ottawa Treaty banning anti-personnel mines, BNS reported. Türk stressed that the international convention, which has over 160 state parties, was a crucial tool in “responding to…
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…
The Lithuanian Migration Department (LMD) has revoked the temporary residence permit of a Russian citizen for repeatedly travelling to Russia and Belarus, BNS reports. The person is the first to lose their residence status under a new law, which bars Russian citizens from travelling to either country more than once within any three-month period. LMD…
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…
Israel will soon open an embassy in Estonia, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar announced, ERR reports. Speaking at a joint press conference with Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna in Tallinn, Sa’ar said that the opening of the embassy would strengthen economic and military cooperation between the two countries. Tsahkna noted that Israel was an important…
Four people have been arrested in Estonia on suspicion of large-scale health care fraud in the US, ERR reports, citing The Washington Post. The case involves nearly two dozen suspects from Estonia, Kazakhstan, and Russia. The group allegedly submitted fraudulent Medicare health insurance claims totalling around EUR 8.5bn for medical devices that were never delivered…
The Estonian Reform Party and the Estonian Centre Party (Keskerakond) will topple Tallinn’s current city government next week, incumbent mayor Jevgeni Ossinovski of the Social Democratic Party (SDE) said, ERR reports. He accused Reform’s mayoral candidate, businessman Urmas Sõõrumaa, of holding token talks with other parties to obscure the party’s plan to form a new…
Israel’s Foreign Minister, Gideon Sa’ar, met with his Latvian and Lithuanian counterparts on a working visit to Riga and Vilnius, LSM reports. The foreign ministers discussed bilateral cooperation, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the situation in the Middle East. Latvian Foreign Minister Baiba Braze expressed hope for more permanent solutions in Israel’s relations with Lebanon…