An Estonian court has sentenced senior figures from the anti-NATO Koos (Together) party to lengthy prison terms, finding they acted in the interests of Russia and sought to ‘undermine Estonia’s national security’.
The Harju District Court on Thursday sentenced Koos co-founder Aivo Peterson to 14 years in prison on a treason conviction. Two associates, Dmitri Rootsi and Andrei Andronov, were handed sentences of 11 years and 11 years and six months respectively. All three men rejected the charges and indicated they would appeal.
Prosecutors argued the defendants promoted messaging aligned with Russia’s foreign and security policy, with the aim of eroding public confidence in NATO and Estonia’s military support for Ukraine.
State Prosecutor Triinu Olev-Aas said the court found the men had “deliberately assisted Russia in activities directed against the Estonian state and society.”
Koos, founded in 2022, advocates Estonia’s withdrawal from NATO, a shift to military neutrality, the removal of foreign troops, and non-participation in external conflicts. The party has framed these positions as an alternative foreign policy vision rather than a security threat.
The case also centred on Peterson’s 2023 visit to the Donetsk People’s Republic, which Estonia regards as occupied Ukrainian territory. Peterson said he travelled to the region to gain firsthand insight into the conflict, claiming Estonian media coverage was overwhelmingly pro-Kiev and lacked balance.
Koos rejected the court’s conclusions, saying prosecutors failed to demonstrate that the actions of its members caused concrete harm to Estonia’s constitutional order or security.
Estonia remains one of Ukraine’s strongest supporters within the European Union and has advocated increased defence spending and militarisation across Europe. Russia has sharply criticised Tallinn’s stance, with Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova previously describing Estonia as among Moscow’s most hostile ‘European’ states and accusing it of exaggerating the threat posed by Russia.
Image credit: Andres Garcia
NATO has become the defacto armed force of the EU – a political organization of unelected representatives infiltrated by individuals of NAZI ideology – disguised as an economic union.
The irony that former soviet (communist) states Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia are now behaving like their past KGB secret police and summary courts, intolerant to political opposition; are become the very thing they say they are against.
Damage control
Desperate times demand desperate measures and knee jerk responses
In suppressing dissidents labeled internal enemy combatants speaking out about the blatant criminality engulfing their countries
Desperate for cash having resorted to stealing Russian assets
To keep a war going that has already been lost
NATO a spent and broken fighting force reduced to ineffective and impotent
NZ tags along like some sort of vaccine damaged deranged cuckold gigolo (Cap under arm)
https://www.rt.com/news/629427-estonia-jails-anti-nato-politicians/