Estonia 'Spy' Dispute Could Be Russia Making Anti-NATO Mischief

Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves (left), with intelligence officer Eston Kohver in 2010. Kohver was arrested by Russian police on spying charges, but Estonian officials called it an illegal kidnapping. AP hide caption

Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves (left), with intelligence officer Eston Kohver in 2010. Kohver was arrested by Russian police on spying charges, but Estonian officials called it an illegal kidnapping.

Russia and its tiny neighbor, Estonia, are embroiled in a spy controversy worthy of a John le Carr novel.

Estonia says Russian agents kidnapped one of its intelligence officials in a cross-border raid. Russia says the man was caught spying on its territory.

The affair could have wider implications for the NATO alliance, because it began just days after President Obama gave a speech in Estonia promising to protect the NATO member against foreign aggression.

Russia's state-run news media ran the story with video supplied by the FSB, Russia's federal security service. It showed an Estonian citizen, Eston Kohver, being hustled into a police station in handcuffs, and said that he had been arrested in Russia's western Pskov region as he tried to carry out an intelligence operation.

Then the video panned over a table showing items that Kohver was allegedly carrying when he was caught: a snub-nosed Taurus automatic, a stack of 50-euro notes worth about $6,500, and some miniature recording equipment. The video zoomed in on the gun to show the trademark and the fact that it was made in Miami.

The implication was that Kohver was packing classic spy gear, and that he was somehow linked to the United States.

Estonia acknowledges that Kohver is one of its intelligence officers, but the resemblance to Russia's version of the story ends there.

In the first place, Estonia says, Kohver was on the Estonian side of the border when he was captured in a surprise raid.

See the article here:
Estonia 'Spy' Dispute Could Be Russia Making Anti-NATO Mischief