Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas is considered one of Ukraine’s staunchest supporters in the war against Russia. Now she is wanted in Russia for “a criminal matter”. Other politicians from ex-Soviet states also end up on the wanted list.
Russia has put Estonia’s Prime Minister Kaja Kallas on a wanted list. This emerges from a note that was posted on the Moscow Interior Ministry website on Tuesday. Accordingly, Kallas is wanted in Russia for “a criminal matter” – no further details were given. Kallas was in Vienna last week and attended the Opera Ball as a guest of Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP).
The search also applies to the Estonian State Secretary Taimar Peterkop and the Lithuanian Culture Minister Simonas Kairys, the Interior Ministry database in Moscow said on Tuesday. Russian Presidential Office spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in Moscow that Kallas was accused of hostile actions against Russia and “desecration of historical memory.” The Russian news agency Tass quoted a source as saying the three were accused of “destroying monuments to Soviet soldiers.”
The Baltic states had already declared their independence from the Soviet Union before it ceased to exist at the end of December 1991. They want to dismantle numerous monuments from Soviet times. In 2022, Kallas announced that this affected around 200 to 400 monuments in Estonia. Russia then launched an investigation. Several dozen Baltic politicians were put on wanted lists. It was not clear from the data what crime they were accused of.
This is just the beginning, said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova. “Crimes against the memory of the liberators of Nazism and fascism must be punished.”
Kallas is unimpressed
Kallas spoke up Tuesday afternoon. “The Kremlin now hopes that this step will help silence me and others, but it will not.” It will continue its strong support for Ukraine. “I will continue to advocate for strengthened European defense,” said Kallas.
The independent Russian internet portal “Mediazona” initially reported on the wanted data. As a result of the Russian offensive in Ukraine, which has been going on for two years, relations between Moscow and the Baltic states are extremely tense. Kallas is one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s harshest critics. She has been at the head of the government in Estonia since 2021.
High-profile advocate of arms sales to Ukraine
The Estonian Prime Minister is the leader of the liberal Estonian Reform Party and a former member of the European Parliament from the Alde group. The 46-year-old, who is considered for higher honors in both the EU and NATO, is considered in Europe to be one of Ukraine’s most determined supporters in the war against Russia. Since the beginning of the war, she has made a name for herself as a staunch supporter of EU sanctions against Moscow and arms deliveries to Ukraine.
During her visit to Vienna around the Opera Ball, Kallas also took plenty of time for an interview with the new English-language debate magazine “European Voices”, which “Die Presse” publishes together with the Austrian Society for Foreign Policy and the United Nations and which will be published on December 15th February is published, you can read the interview here (in German). (APA/AFP/Reuters/Red.)
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