Estonia attributes Milrem fire to Russian security services; Moscow rejects claim

Estonian authorities have concluded that an arson attack on a defence company supplying military vehicles to Ukraine was a deliberate sabotage operation commissioned by Russian security services. Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said the alleged action was unacceptable and announced that Russia’s charge d’affaires in Tallinn would be summoned. The fire broke out overnight on August 15 at a building in Estonia’s capital used by Milrem Robotics and was brought under control quickly.

Estonia’s Internal Security Service said the attack had been pre-planned. It said the method was consistent with other acts of sabotage carried out in Europe on behalf of Russia and assessed that the incident was directly attributable to the Russian Federation. Three Latvian suspects were detained in neighbouring Latvia on August 17 and 18 and later handed over to Estonia.

The source material does not provide details of charges against them or the evidence linking them to the fire. Milrem has supplied its THeMIS unmanned ground vehicles to Ukraine. The company’s connection to military equipment for Ukraine formed part of the Estonian authorities’ account of the incident.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov rejected the allegation, calling the statements unfounded and unsupported. He said Moscow could not take them seriously and would not do so. Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal said on social media that the country would not be intimidated.

The incident comes amid wider Western accusations that Russia has organised sabotage and disruption across Europe to weaken support for Ukraine and destabilise European countries. The Associated Press has tracked around 200 incidents of sabotage and other malign activity across Europe blamed on Russia since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022. Russia has rejected the Estonian attribution in this case.