Kremlin Dismisses Estonian Sabotage Charge Over Milrem Robotics Arson
Russia rejected Estonian claims that its security services ordered an August arson attack on Milrem Robotics, a defence firm supplying Ukraine, as Tallinn summoned Moscow's envoy.
The Kremlin on Tuesday rejected Estonian accusations that an arson attack last month on a defence company supplying military vehicles to Ukraine was a sabotage operation ordered by Russian security services, dismissing the charge as unfounded.
"Such statements are baseless, ill-considered, completely distorted from reality, and lack any kind of reasoning," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. "Accordingly, we cannot take such statements seriously. And we will not."
The dispute centres on a fire that broke out overnight on August 15 at a building in the Estonian capital used by Milrem Robotics. The blaze was brought under control quickly. Two Latvian suspects were detained in neighbouring Latvia on August 17, and a third was taken into custody the following day. All three were handed over to Estonia.
Milrem has supplied THeMIS unmanned ground vehicles to Ukraine.
Estonia's Internal Security Service said it had concluded that the arson was "a deliberate and pre-planned act commissioned by Russian security services." It said the method used in the Milrem attack matched other sabotage operations carried out in Europe on Russia's behalf, and assessed that the incident was directly attributable to the Russian Federation.
Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna called the actions "absolutely unacceptable" and said Russia's charge d'affaires in Tallinn was being summoned to his ministry. Prime Minister Kristen Michal wrote on X that "we will not be intimidated."
Western officials have repeatedly accused Moscow of running a sabotage and disruption campaign aimed at eroding support for Ukraine and destabilising European countries. Roughly 200 incidents of sabotage and malign activity across Europe have been blamed on Russia since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, ranging from plots to set fire to warehouses and drone launches to attempts to kill opponents abroad, theft of defence technology and cyberattacks on critical infrastructure.
In a case cited as an escalation, Germany blamed Russia for an attempted attack at Leipzig/Halle Airport in early August involving a drone carrying explosives.