Image of Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas. — AFP/File
Russia has added Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas and other Baltic state heads to their wanted list, as Tallinn warned of an imminent Russia attack due to military buildups along its borders, The Guardian reported.
According to the reason stated by the Russian foreign minister Maria Zakharova, the Estonian state secretary, Taimar Peterkop, the Lithuanian culture minister, Simonas Kairys, and Kallas were accused of “destroying monuments to Soviet soldiers,” a reference to the removal of Soviet-era second world war memorials.
Kallas, in response, wrote on X, formerly Twitter, “The Kremlin now hopes this move will help to silence me and others, but it won’t.”
As members of the European Union and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania have seen a severe deterioration in their ties with Moscow since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine over two years ago.
The majority of the Soviet-era monuments in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania —including those honouring Soviet soldiers lost in World War Two — were destroyed after Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
Declaring the Baltic officials “wanted” is unlikely to have any real repercussions; the most that can happen is that they will be arrested, but only if they cross the Russian border.
Tensions remain high, and on Tuesday Estonia’s foreign intelligence service warned that Russia intended to double the number of its troops stationed along its border with the Baltic states and Finland as part of preparations for a potential military conflict with NATO within the next 10 years.
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