russia has essentially been evicted from the professional intelligence game in the baltics, so they’ve pivoted to the gig economy of espionage. they went from high-stakes KGB tradecraft to sliding into the DMs of ordinary civilians to pay them for vandalism and fake bomb threats.
estonia is dismantling them with the efficiency of a world class IT dept. once again, the smallest neighbor is providing the biggest masterclass for the rest of NATO.
1284
Dollar_Admiral5 days ago
+180
E-Stonia putting in work.
180
DigitalMountainMonk5 days ago
+116
Ehhhh...
They have not been evicted. Their public arm has been evicted(mostly).
Their silent arms are still neck deep in the EU in general. Though it is being seriously weakened as the Russian economy consumes itself. The KGB has always used proxies when possible.
116
Under_Over_Thinker5 days ago
+98
The comment is not about the EU. It’s about the Baltics, Estonia in particular.
There is a big difference between Orban’s Hungary and countries with a real national security agenda.
98
DigitalMountainMonk5 days ago
-57
You are aware that the Baltics are part of the EU yes?
You are then also aware that Russian spies have been a thorn in the entire EU for decades yes?
I struggle to find your point. You think everyone but Estonia isn't trying to evict Russian spies from their respective Russian embassies?
-57
Assmodean5 days ago
+49
They are saying that Estonia is doing better than the rest of the EU at weeding out spies. Your counterpoint that spies are still a major problem in the EU does not really negate the first point.
49
DigitalMountainMonk5 days ago
-24
Fair. I guess from my point of view being closer to this topic I view it as a team effort. Estonia isn't alone in this and I can damn sure promise you eliminating these assets didn't happen on their work alone. Not eliminating Russian assets in German or French structures also isn't always a bad thing so I don't view one group moving faster than another as always better. To me they are all a focus of a much greater problem that we are all working on solving.
Political spying is never a one team job. I can now see more where over thinker was coming from though so thank you for the clarification.
-24
ieatthosedownvotes4 days ago
+2
I kind of don't understand allowing enemies to even have embassies in your nation. It may have made sense back in the day before instantaneous communication, but to me, the risk of hosting an adversarial foothold in your country outweighs any benefit.
2
P1zzaBag3ls4 days ago
+5
There are a few reasons. Allowing declared agents of foreign governments may mean fewer undeclared agents running around in secret. Having official channels may keep relations from getting worse. (That's a lot of "mays", I know.) There are also just a lot of mundane tasks that somebody somewhere has to do... housekeeping, basically.
5
suspectable-buggy5 days ago
-40
i mean, FSB have used this recruitment tactics for years now. Anyone who is remotely familiar with russian social networks would know that. But estonian master world class IT dept just recently got a memo. So yes, it deserved rights now to mog everyone else in the NATO xddd
edit: Also calling kids russian spies because they wanted to make some easy money by paiting graffitis on the walls is crazy work ngl
-40
someocculthand5 days ago
+35
What's your problem anyway? European countries countering russian hybrid tactics is.., bad?
Besides, it's not like it's just kids painting graffiti. Arson, for example, is a pretty big deal.
35
wind5435 days ago
+36
> What's your problem anyway?
He's a Russian living in Estonia. No further information needed.
36
suspectable-buggy5 days ago
-30
its not bad. Its a little bit too late. Like 10-15 years late. And somehow making article out of it and posting this on the internet now is just for clicks and to further spread false narrative that somehow EU doing a good job at fighting hybrid informational warfare. Which it pretty much lost already quite a while ago
-30
Under_Over_Thinker5 days ago
+14
That’s a bit fatalistic. If something could’ve been done 10 years ago, it’s not a reason not to do it now.
It’s a great time to eradicate Russian spy networks. Also, let’s not overestimate Russians either. The fear of Russians is much stronger than the Russians actually are. Ukrainian armed forces have proven that over and over again.
14
suspectable-buggy4 days ago
-2
i think war in Ukraine pretty much proved there is nothing to fear about russians. But whatever. They only fear is now government of Russia is trying to induce is into their of citizen so they would stay in line and avoid any kind of revolutions xd. But listnook average user know best
-2
Maelarion5 days ago
+5
There are degrees of being a spy. Much the same way a military cook and a Tier 1 Delta Force operator are both 'soldiers'.
5
suspectable-buggy4 days ago
-2
ah so, exploiting poorest layers of the society because they just trying to make a living somehow is now soldiers. Copy that
-2
Maelarion4 days ago
+6
Strawman argument, comment invalid.
6
flriverlivin5 days ago
+172
Good for Estonia. Probably nice to ‘sweep the porch’ of such people.
172
Millia_5 days ago
+68
Common Estonia W, love to see it
68
totallyRebb5 days ago
+225
Russia works like literal cancer.
225
Famous_Economist_2115 days ago
+117
Been saying russia is a tumor in world. Just extracting huge amounts of natural resources and produces nothing but problems for the rest of the world. Remarkable civilisation in every negative way
117
james71325 days ago
+28
Time for some chemotherapy.
28
Illustrious_Cap23274 days ago
+4
did Russia compensate for the Chernobyl affected victims though?
4
cstriker4214 days ago
+5
Mayhaps a second round of shock therapy.
5
Bagel_Sparrow64 days ago
-1
Just another cancer like the United States
-1
AdventurousVast65104 days ago
+4
the u.s contributes to sci & tech more than any other countries
4
josss54 days ago
but they ised it to destroy the work and kill people
0
JoshuaZ14 days ago
-1
Historically this wasn't the case. What is true is that Russia right now is this way, and there was a decent chance that it didn't end up this way if the last few decades had gone differently. The current Russian government is of course absolutely awful.
-1
GabeGabou4 days ago
+9
When was it not this way?
9
JoshuaZ14 days ago
-1
The mid 1990s Russia has problems, but it wasn't remotely this bad. In much of the 19th century and 18th centuries Russia was just one more big empire (where by most modern standards everyone was awful).
-1
zgollum4 days ago
+5
ahhaha, Transnistria, Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Tajikistan and Chechnya would like a word with you
5
JoshuaZ14 days ago
-1
The scale of all of these, even Chechnya (which was devastating and awful) isn't the same scale in terms of aggression. Nor in the 1990s was Russia engaging in the sort of large scale espionage and sabotage that the original article is about.
-1
VariousBodybuilder624 days ago
+2
Russia in the 1990s was still licking their wounds after the collapse of the CCCP in the early 90s. That's not really saying much.
2
JoshuaZ14 days ago
+1
That's a valid point. It may be that there were larger cultural and government issues still and they just didn't have the resources to act on them. I don't think though that's all of it. Neither Gorbachev and Yeltsin acted remotely like Putin on many of these issues. Was that just due to everything else going on? I'm not sure. At a minimum, Gorbachev could have tried to really violently hang on to Soviet satellite states and did not do so. I have trouble seeing Putin making that decision. Who leaders are matters.
1
Space_Sweetness5 days ago
+14
True. Energy is used to suppress speech, terrorise communities and individuals, attack other countries, manipulate and sow division in other countries.
A healthy country invests in its population, let everyone take part, grow innovation and hope
Putin’s Russia is just darkness and destruction
14
bigdipboy5 days ago
+63
If America did that then the Republican party would collapse
63
Ragnarawr5 days ago
+18
If America swept its porch of all compromised, or active agents of other nations, there’d be very few politicians left standing.
18
TazBaz4 days ago
+3
Add Israeli agents and the upper levels of politics would be mostly empty.
3
Eradiani4 days ago
I'm sure there would be a number of democrats on that list as well. remember russia's propaganda pushes often times do a both sides type of thing to sow discord in western countries. It's hard to focus on russia being the bad guy when you're in-fighting
0
Black_Moons4 days ago
+14
Cool get rid of em all. If the only person left in the US government was bernie sanders the world would be a much better place.
14
Eradiani4 days ago
+2
There are a few others that I'd also like to see stick around but I agree. if you looked through any of my post history you'd probably already figure out that I'm for getting rid of most of both sides and starting a real progressive movement in the country
2
[deleted]4 days ago
-2
[deleted]
-2
[deleted]4 days ago
[removed]
0
Black_Moons4 days ago
+1
Yea, always EXACTLY enough who are retiring and cross party lines to make sure next to 0 progress is ever made.
1
bigdipboy4 days ago
+4
It’s obvious which side Putin prefers to have in power. Now, why does our enemy want the Republican Party in charge?
4
Eradiani4 days ago
+3
no doubt, because Putin finds the faster path to destroying america as a world power is easier through republicans.
I'm just saying if you look at most of russia's troll farms they play both sides of an issue purely to promote infighting
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/aug/23/russian-trolls-spread-vaccine-misinformation-on-twitter
The goal isn't to align beliefs towards one side or the other, it's to promote anger at each other.
So while yes I feel that probably most of the republican party is taking money from the kremlin at this point you have to weed out a good chunk of both sides of our political landscape because many are getting paid by AIPAC and others. After all there's always just enough democrats to ensure real progress never happens even when they have the super majority.
3
bigdipboy2 days ago
+1
That’s because people aren’t electing enough Democrats. When Democrats have enough power, they fix things. They can’t do that with a one vote majority that can be blocked by the filibuster.
1
Eradiani2 days ago
+1
well it's part that but also part, maps are gerrymandered to hell, and the US government is structured to allow minority rule. you'd have to have over 60 votes without detractors like sinema/manchin/leiberman/etc throughout history. you need over two thirds without those things to make constitutional changes.
I would love to see the republican base shrink to such a small amount that these things could actually happen but I just don't see it happening despite how messed up this presidency has been.
you absolutely know these same people will forget about it in 4 years after a democrat comes in and barely makes any changes because most of them will block and stall, and not get things done
1
Delicious_Injury94445 days ago
+103
Cool. Now do the US.
103
violentglitter6665 days ago
+25
The entire government is infested with them. It’s a real problem. I don’t have any faith that they will be ousted anytime soon.
25
EspritLibre_4045 days ago
+34
What’s the point of stressing if half the Capitol ends up being Russian agents?
34
Haru1st4 days ago
+25
You get to call out MAGAs for choosing to be ruled by a foreign nation.
25
bloomdecay4 days ago
+10
They'd probably just say that Russia is the true United States or something equally stupid and insane.
10
heyoneblueveloplease3 days ago
+2
You can do it now with Israel lmao.
2
AlisaofallTimes5 days ago
+11
So, what's the record number?
11
Shiroyami5 days ago
+15
16 agents this time around
15
thracia4 days ago
+11
The biggest country in the world shows us how it fights with one of the smallest countries 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
That is how much power Russia has.
11
plaes5 days ago
+14
Full book (in Estonian) downloadable from here: [https://kapo.ee/sites/default/files/content\_page\_attachments/aastaraamat-2025-2026.pdf](https://kapo.ee/sites/default/files/content_page_attachments/aastaraamat-2025-2026.pdf)
14
_llille4 days ago
+12
In English: [https://kapo.ee/sites/default/files/content\_page\_attachments/annual-review-2025-2026.pdf](https://kapo.ee/sites/default/files/content_page_attachments/annual-review-2025-2026.pdf)
12
Space_Sweetness5 days ago
+6
Let’s make this an international competition
6
HasGreatVocabulary4 days ago
+7
>At least nine individuals were identified as “agents” in the intelligence service’s latest annual [report](https://kapo.ee/sites/default/files/content_page_attachments/annual-review-2025-2026.pdf), and the residency permits of several clergy members with ties to the Russian Orthodox Church were revoked on security grounds. The total number of people detected to be working for the Kremlin, or detained or expelled for promoting Russia’s agenda, was not disclosed.
I visited the main russian orthodox church in Tallinn (capital of estonia) just over 10 years ago and I swear it had a really weird unwelcoming vibe, like I felt it was a cover for something but I thought maybe I was biased. the locals also talked about russians moving there and provoking political tensions and starting fights over EU membership and language
7
compuwiza15 days ago
+12
Will they be estoned?
12
Deep-Assignment41244 days ago
+2
What was the old record?
2
MeanSatisfaction17724 days ago
+2
this is teh kind of stuff that actually matters for national security and yet we've had administrations that seem way more focused on maintaining cozy relationships with moscow than building up defenses against it, meanwhile people who actually served are struggling just to get basic medical care covered
2
Small_Lengthiness8504 days ago
+2
the fact that estonia has to unmask record numbers of russian operatives while some administrations have basically been asleep at the wheel says everything about who actually cares about security versus who just talks about it. and guess who suffers when foreign policy gets bungled, spoiler its not the people making decisions.
2
bestestopinion4 days ago
+1
“Isn’t anyone here not a Russian spy?”
1
Kurethius4 days ago
+1
And they would have gotten away with it too if it weren't for those damn meddling kids
1
External_Bobcat81834 days ago
+1
The report with photos and faces: [https://kapo.ee/sites/default/files/content_page_attachments/annual-review-2025-2026.pdf](https://kapo.ee/sites/default/files/content_page_attachments/annual-review-2025-2026.pdf)
69 Comments