Estonian authorities have released a Bahamian-flagged container ship stopped earlier on suspicion of drug smuggling, ERR reports. The Estonian Tax and Customs Board (EMTA) found no narcotics on board the vessel, Baltic Spirit, which was en route from Puerto Bolívar in Ecuador to Saint Petersburg in Russia. Estonian authorities boarded and detained the ship based…
Estonian authorities have boarded and detained a Bahamian-flagged container ship suspected of smuggling, the Estonian Tax and Customs Board (EMTA) announced, ERR reports. Officials stopped the vessel, Baltic Spirit, off the island of Naissaar in Estonia’s internal waters. The ship, with an all-Russian crew, was en route from Ecuador to Saint Petersburg in Russia. The vessel…
Police in Finland have detained a cargo ship and its crew suspected of breaking two undersea data cables in Estonia’s exclusive economic zone in the Gulf of Finland, ERR reports. Finnish telecommunications operator Elisa detected a fault in its data cable in the early morning hours of 31 December 2025. Estonia’s Ministry of Justice and…
Estonia and Finland are drawing up joint plans for increased maritime defence, Major General Andrus Merilo, commander of the Estonian Defence Forces (EDF), revealed, ERR reports. Speaking in an interview with Helsingin Sanomat, Merilo said that the goal was to establish specific plans to close the Gulf of Finland to Russian ships if necessary. Earlier,…
Lithuania’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Jovita Neliupsiene, has met with the Vatican’s envoy to Lithuania, Petar Rajic, to discuss recent remarks by Pope Francis about Russia, BNS reports. Neither side provided details about the meeting, however. Earlier, the pontiff addressed young Catholics in Saint Petersburg, saying that they were “children of great Russia” and “of a…
Lithuania’s Foreign Ministry has invited the Vatican’s representative in Lithuania for a conversation after Pope Francis gave statements praising Russia, BNS reports. Speaking online to a group of Catholic Russians in Saint Petersburg, Pope Francis said that they were “heirs of the great Mother Russia” and of an “empire of great culture and great humanity.”…
Russia’s Justice Ministry has declared Alexey Gorpinchenko, Saint Petersburg correspondent for Estonian public broadcaster ERR’s Russian service, a “foreign agent,” ERR reports. The ministry accuses Gorpinchenko of “denouncing” Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, disseminating “untruthful” information about the war, and attracting international support. The “foreign agent” designation carries a variety of restrictions and potential fines.
