Estonia has hit back at Russian claims that a woman blamed by Moscow for planting a deadly car bomb on Saturday later fled to the Baltic country.
As tensions spread over the six month long Ukraine war, Tallinn dismissed the allegations about the whereabouts of the woman the Kremlin has accused of killing the daughter of a prominent supporter of President Vladimir Putin.
Speaking on television on Tuesday, Urmas Reinsalu, Estonia’s foreign minister, said: “We regard this as one instance of provocation in a very long line of provocations by the Russian Federation, and we have nothing more to say about it at the moment.”
Russia’s FSB security services claimed that Natalya Vovk, a 43-year-old Ukrainian, was responsible for the killing of Daria Dugina, the daughter of far-right ideologue Alexander Dugin. Vovk then supposedly fled to Estonia, leading Russian nationalists to demand tough action against the Baltic country that has been one of Ukraine’s biggest supporters.
Estonian police said on Monday that Russia had not made any official requests about Vovk.
But Indrek Kannik, head of the state-backed think-tank the International Centre for Defence and Security, said the car bomb attack could have been a “false-flag” operation by Russia.
“It is possible that this was the FSB’s own operation, since these people had become a threat. At the same time, it is convenient to blame it on the Ukrainians. Now we are seeing that Estonia can also be dragged in to this,” he told Estonian television.
Estonia suffered its biggest cyber attack in 15 years last week following the removal of a Soviet-era tank memorial from the eastern city of Narva, close to the border with Russia.
The attack had no visible impact on the Baltic country known for its digital infrastructure. In 2007 it was hit by a crippling cyber strike that Estonian officials said originated in Russia after the removal a bronze monument to a Soviet Red Army soldier in the capital, Tallinn.
Reinsalu said the attack last week was part of a pattern of pressure from Moscow on Tallinn for its support of Ukraine, as Estonia has given more aid per capita to Kyiv than any other country.
“Why did Estonia experience the biggest cyber attacks since the Bronze Soldier night? Why did the former president of Russia say two weeks ago that it was their failure that Estonia is still a free country?” he said on Estonia’s public broadcasting channel, ETV.
Estonia has led the calls for increased sanctions against Russia, pushing for a ban on Russian gas inside the EU and Russian tourists in Europe. It has stopped Russians entering the country with an Estonian visa, although Russians can use visas issued by other EU member states.
Tallinn has also provided substantial military support to Ukraine, more than some larger EU countries despite Estonia only having a population of 1.3mn.
Estonia’s prime minister Kaja Kallas told the country’s media on Tuesday that the governing three-party coalition failed to reach agreement on a proposal to stop Russian citizens from voting in local elections. The move would have been controversial as Russian citizens are in the majority in parts of eastern Estonia. The government is already planning to make Estonian the sole language used in schools and kindergartens.
Estonia was forcibly annexed by the Soviet Union during the second world war and regained its independence in 1991. Tens of thousands of Estonians were deported to Siberia during the Soviet era, while ethnic Russians moved into Estonia, leading to high numbers of Russian speakers in areas around the Russian border and in the capital of Tallinn.
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