On 23 February, Estonia's State Prosecutors Office (Prokuratuur) issued a press release stating that three men, Maxim Gruzdev (32), Alexander Rudnev (21), and Pavel Romanov (42), had been jailed on charges of illegal co-operation with Russian intelligence. According to a report by the Associated Press, the three men were cross-border cigarette smugglers, but had reached a deal with Russia's domestic intelligence agency (Federalnaya sluzhba bezopasnosti: FSB), whereby the FSB would allow them to smuggle goods in exchange for information. Gruzdev, an Estonian citizen, was convicted in February of co-operation with Russian special services and sentenced to four years' imprisonment. According to the Prokuratuur, Gruzdev was recruited in 2013 in the Pskov region and had been passing on information regarding ongoing activities of Estonia's Internal Security Service (Kaitsepolitseiamet).
展开▼
