{"id":15514,"date":"2024-02-14T00:46:18","date_gmt":"2024-02-14T00:46:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/2024\/02\/14\/russia-places-estonias-prime-minister-on-wanted-list\/"},"modified":"2024-02-14T00:46:18","modified_gmt":"2024-02-14T00:46:18","slug":"russia-places-estonias-prime-minister-on-wanted-list","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/2024\/02\/14\/russia-places-estonias-prime-minister-on-wanted-list\/","title":{"rendered":"Russia places Estonia\u2019s prime minister on wanted list"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Russian authorities on Tuesday launched unprecedented <\/strong>criminal proceedings against Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, charges the leader of the Baltic state alleged were politically motivated. <\/p>\n

The Kremlin accused Kallas, Estonian Secretary of State Taimar Peterkop and Lithuanian Culture Minister Simonas Kairys of destroying or damaging monuments to Soviet monuments in memory of Soviet soldiers, Russia\u2019s state-run Tass news reported. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed the charges in a call with journalists but did not clarify when the supposed crime took place. <\/p>\n

Shortly after Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine nearly two years ago, Kallas announced that Estonia would remove all of the country\u2019s Soviet monuments from public spaces. <\/p>\n

Kallas appears to be the first head of state placed on the Russian Interior Ministry\u2019s wanted list by the Russian government since the full-fledged invasion began. The move, however, is likely symbolic. <\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Kallas said on social media the move was unsurprising and proof that she was \u201cdoing the right thing\u201d by supporting Ukraine in its war against Russia. <\/p>\n

\u201cThroughout history, Russia has veiled its repressions behind so-called law enforcement agencies,\u201d Kallas said, citing the cases of her grandmother and mother, who she said were deported to Siberia after the KGB issued arrest warrants for them. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe Kremlin now hopes this move will help to silence me and others \u2013 but it won\u2019t. The opposite. I will continue my strong support to Ukraine,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

Estonia, a former part of the Soviet Union, joined the European Union and acceded to NATO in 2004. NATO\u2019s expansion to Russia\u2019s border has long rankled with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who views the alliance as an existential threat. <\/p>\n

Putin\u2019s decision to invade Ukraine prompted deep concern in Estonia that it could be next. <\/p>\n

A report by the Estonian Foreign Intelligence Service said Russia may consider doubling the number of troops stationed on its border with the Baltic countries and increasing those on its frontier with Finland, which joined NATO last year. <\/p>\n

When introducing the report, the service\u2019s leader, Kaupo Rosin, said that Russia probably anticipates a conflict with the alliance within the next decade, although he played down the likelihood that would come in the form of military action. <\/p>\n

\u201cEstonia needs to prepare itself together with our allies. Our security and safety can be best ensured by Ukraine\u2019s victory, Russia\u2019s defeat and the end of Putin\u2019s regime,\u201d Rosin said. <\/p>\n

Tallinn has also been a strong proponent of Europe spending more on its own defense. Responding to former US President Donald Trump\u2019s remarks that, if reelected, he would let Russia do \u201cwhatever the hell they want\u201d to any NATO member that doesn\u2019t meet spending guidelines, Kallas said \u201dwe have been advocating for doing more in defense, and that means all NATO\u2019s members do more in defense\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI think what the presidential candidate in America says is also something to maybe wake up the allies who haven\u2019t done that much, so hopefully we all do more and collectively we are stronger together,\u201d she said at a news conference on Monday alongside European Parliament President Roberta Metsola. <\/p>\n

Estonia\u2019s defense budget is slated to rise to more than 3% of the country\u2019s GDP for the first time this year, well above the 2% threshold target NATO has set for members of the alliance. <\/p>\n

Tuesday also saw Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna deliver his annual foreign policy speech, which included fiery anti-Russian remarks and a full-throated backing for Ukraine. <\/p>\n

\u201cNo one wants to live in a world where Putins roam, kidnapping and orphaning children, attempting to cancel their neighbors and mining nuclear power plants,\u201d he said. \u201cAggression must not succeed; it must not become a new acceptable reality. Otherwise, the world will become the domain of force, arrogance, callousness, authoritarianism.\u201d <\/p>\n\n

This post appeared first on cnn.com<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Russian authorities on Tuesday launched unprecedented criminal proceedings against Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, charges the leader of the Baltic state alleged were politically motivated. The Kremlin accused Kallas, Estonian Secretary of State Taimar Peterkop and Lithuanian Culture Minister Simonas Kairys of destroying or damaging monuments to Soviet monuments in memory of Soviet soldiers, Russia\u2019s <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":15515,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-15514","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15514"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15514\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}