Fear the Russian invasion! Estonia, Putin's spy pillar

In the Baltic country, they're afraid to end “like Crime. Government to implement a task force to fight false news
For Russia we were right” From the chambers of Parliament (Rigikog) to the streets is one of the concerns that are repeated in Estonia, the small Baltic country, which from the day of independence won on 20 August 1991, lives on the anxiety of a new invasion by Moscow.

We do not say out loud and we are not happy that we had a right”, said Defence Minister Yuri Luik, “but governments are certainly more aware today of this threat. We need to remember what the Russians are capable of. Be realistic” From the Iscarnder missiles, placed in Kaliningrad, to the false news, there are many examples. The European Union, where Talin has been a member since 2004, has just earmarked 5m euros to fight “fire factory”. “I am sure the Russians use the issue of immigrants to increase divisions in Europe”, said Minister Luik.

Of course in Estonia, which is part of NATO, Moscow is a kind of obsession. We only have three problems: Russia, Russia, Russia”, says ironically Raul Rebane, a former television reporter and now an expert on propagandistic warfare.

But it is very understandable if you think that in the country 1.3 million people -- 30% of the population -- are Russian and 50% speak Russian as their native language. Here we live in constant readiness. The government has created a small force to respond to the Kremlin's false news and is building in the border area an invisible wall created by infrared cameras, subterranean sensors, photoelectric cells to disperse agents sent from Moscow. Now, because there were 17 arrested and convicted spies in Estonia in the last ten years: 10 from FSB, 5 from Gru, 2 from Svr, the Russian international intelligence service. Sixteen men and a woman.

Often people who are not suspected of anything. They are blackmailed or convinced that dangers do not exist. Andres Kahar works for Estonia's secret services. His eyes are small and impervious. His PC has shut down access to the USB and the camera is dark to prevent possible interference. “Putin isn't preparing a ground invasion, he says, but it's creating conditions to do so. There's no need to invade third countries, but check them”. Estonia has much to learn from the West about spying. Here the method began: Give a spy name and shame him. Estonia's “The equivalent is” we capture, name and put on the hackback “, says Toomas Hendrik Ilves, who has been president of the country for ten years until 2016.

Last September, Dennis Metzawas, 38, senior officer in Estonia's defence forces and his father, 65, were arrested. Their capture has become public and is considered a blow in Russia. Metzawas has been a spy for more than five years, had access to plans with which Estonia would respond to a crisis and also co-ordination documents with NATO. This is not something that will disappear until Putin is in power. The game will continue “, Hannes Hanso, president of the Rigikogu Defence Commission, explained.

In Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, is the memorial of the victims of communism, inaugurated on August 23rd. Two large black steel walls with the names on the top form a tunnel in which the icy wind blows from the Baltic Sea.

In Narva, where Russia is on the other side of the river, Lenin's statue ended near a garbage can. It's the Estonians' dream to forget Communism. There is, however, the nightmare: Narva will be the next crime? /Albanian