An official with Estonia’s security police has been arrested on suspicion of spying for Russia.
The security official, Alexei Dressen, was detained at the airport in Tallinn along with his wife, who was boarding a plane bound for Moscow.
Dressen’s wife, who was in possession of classified documents, is suspected of acting as a courier for her husband, who worked in the domestic security section of the security police, known as the Kapo.
Dressen was following orders from counter-intelligence agents at the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), Kapo chief Raivo Aeg said.
The interest of “hostile special services” in Estonia has risen continuously since the Baltic nation joined NATO, Interior Minister Ken-Marti Vaher said in a statement on Wednesday.
Estonia was at the center of a spying scandal four years ago when it arrested Herman Simm, who had served as head of the security department at the Defense Ministry, on suspicion of passing NATO secrets to a foreign power, later identified in court documents as Russia. Simm was convicted of treason in 2009 and sentenced to 12.5 years in prison.