Estonian FM Calls For Russian Hybrid Attacks To Be Called War

(MENAFN- UkrinForm) He made the remarks in an interview with POLITICO, Ukrinform reports.

Tsahkna spoke after Estonia said on Tuesday that Russian intelligence services were behind the August arson attack on the Tallinn headquarters of Milrem Robotics, a company that supplies Ukraine with unmanned ground vehicles. Three Latvian citizens suspected of carrying out the arson were handed over to Estonia and will be prosecuted, the minister said.

The attack on Milrem Robotics was one of a series of similar incidents. These include August drone attacks on Leipzig Airport, which German authorities also linked to Russia.

According to Tsahkna, many people recruited by Russia to carry out drone attacks and arson are motivated by "easy money" rather than ideology.

"The message is that if you collaborate with the Russian secret services, you will be caught and sent to prison," Tsahkna stressed. He urged those considering taking part in such operations to "think many times before" agreeing to them.

European governments should also collect and share evidence so that they can publicly attribute such attacks to Russia, coordinate the work of intelligence and security services more closely, and make it clear that those who cooperate with Moscow will face severe consequences, Tsahkna said.

Read also: Baltic States tighten checks to prevent Russian-Stolen grain from occupied Ukraine from entering markets

According to him, the Kremlin seeks to "divide our societies, divide our unity, and play with fear." Tsahkna warned that the risk of more serious attacks, including ones that could result in the deaths of many Europeans, will increase if Vladimir Putin believes that the EU is not responding collectively.

At the same time, Tsahkna said that "Russia is not able to wage any military full-scale aggression or attacks against NATO" at present.

"But it doesn't mean that it may not happen in the future. So let's use this time for preparation. We need to take Putin very seriously; he's a terrorist. He is using all the different opportunities to attack us already, so we need to understand that the business as usual is not coming back," he added.

As Ukrinform reported, U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker said that Russia's hybrid actions are primarily aimed at distracting allies from supporting Ukraine, and that the response to them should be to further strengthen assistance to Kyiv.

At the same time, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said that the Alliance's responses to Russian hybrid attacks are not always public and do not always follow a "tit for tat" principle.

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