Estonia is closing its border with Russia. Here’s what that means for Europe

Résumé détaillé

The country said there was clear evidence that Russia’s military intelligence was behind the attack on Estonian drone company ...

Estonia has announced it will be closing all border crossings with Russia from the start of December after it said Russia was behind an attempted arson attack on one of its drone makers.

The country’s foreign minister, Margus Tsahkna, said there was “clear evidence that Russia’s military intelligence service, GRU, ordered a sabotage attack against an Estonian defence industry company”.

Estonian authorities detained eight suspects in connection with the attempted attack on Threod Systems’ drone manufacturing site in Viimsi, north of Tallinn, early on Saturday morning, Prosecutor General Astrid Asi told a press conference on Sunday. Threod makes long-range reconnaissance and attack drones.

The country’s internal security services posted on X: “We have quickly detained the suspects. We advise against even considering such job offers from Russia. The consequences are serious!”

The suspects are residents of neighbouring Latvia. Five have been remanded in custody.

Tsahkna said that closing all Estonia-Russian border crossing points from 1 December will “reduce Russia’s ability to conduct hostile activities in Estonia and strengthen our efforts to prevent sanctions circumvention”.

“Russia must understand that hostile actions against Estonia come with consequences. Attempts to intimidate, destabilise, or undermine our security will not go unanswered,” said Tsahkna.

Keir Giles, associate fellow of the Russia and Eurasia Programme at Chatham House, told The i Paper that closing the border was “a self-defence mechanism by Estonia as well as a demonstrative response to what Russia is doing to them”.

“For years, European countries have been looking for ways to respond to Russian sabotage and sub-threshold attacks, and eventually they have to respond,” he added.

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