Estonian ex-army officer and his father convicted of spying for Russia
The former Estonian Defense Forces (Armed Forces) officer and his father were convicted on charges of espionage for Russia in Estonia. The court found them guilty of high treason, reports Radio Liberty.
Tallinn court has established that the 38-year-old Deniss Metsavas, a former major of the Estonian army, and his father, 65-year-old Pjotr Volin, were selling classified information to the Russian military intelligence, known as the GRU.
According to the Estonian State Prosecutor’s Office, the court determined that Metsavas had been passing on secret information for ten years. He was sentenced to fifteen and a half years in prison.
Volin collaborated with Russian intelligence for around half of this time, and the court ruled to sentence him to six years in prison.
The prosecutor's office reported that both men agreed to cooperate with the investigation and therefore received reduced time sentences.
Metsavas served in various positions within the Estonian Defense Forces, in particular, he participated in the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan, and the Estonian Defense Forces headquarters, where he was involved in the defense planning.
After the arrests of Metsavas and Volin, the Defense Forces of Estonia claimed that their activities had caused significant damage to Estonia and NATO, but did not disclose the exact amount of it.
Since the restoration of Estonia’s independence in 1991, a whole series of “spy scandals” occurred between Tallinn and Moscow. Estonia accused its own and Russian citizens of providing sensitive information to Russia while Russia arrested and convicted Estonians, accusing them of spying for Estonia.