While the option of revoking Estonian citizenship held by birth in such cases has been discussed, it would need a constitutional amendment.

An estimated approximately 10,000 citizens of the Republic of Estonia reside in Russia, and these people can easily cross the border into Estonia.

Their background and activities are difficult to check up on, "Aktuaalne kaamera" reported.

Head of the Internal Security Service (ISS) Harrys Puusepp said that meanwhile Russian intelligence services found these dual citizenship-holders to be of particular interest.

This in turn makes them of interest to the ISS, known in Estonian by the acronym Kapo, and the authority has been following up cases.

Puusepp said: "In cooperation with the prosecutor's office, we have apprehended such people, and prosecuted them for various crimes against Estonia."

This might require a firming up more generally, rather than responding on a case-by-case basis.

Puusepp added that it is difficult for his organization to give politicians recommendations on what should be done at the legislative level, however.

"As of today, there are approximately 10,000 people who hold both Estonian and Russian citizenship, and which they should not actually have," Puusepp went on.

"And it is a complicated situation, and we know that there are no simple solutions to it though, perhaps now, since this issue is clearly on the agenda due to Russia's aggressive actions, it is something to consider," Puusepp went on.

Janek Mägi, who now heads up the Ministry of the Interior's border guard and migration policy department, said that an amendment to the Citizenship Act is currently under consideration which would give the Police and Border Guard Board (PPA) the right to obtain a DNA test from a citizenship applicant, where there are cases of doubt.

He said the ministry currently however has no plans to amend the constitution to allow the revocation of citizenship from those born as citizens.

"Acquiring and revoking birthright citizenship are issues which have repeatedly been on the agenda at various times, such as cases involving traitors to the state," Mägi said.

"Really this requires a serious political discussion. In order to revoke citizenship acquired by birth, or to declare someone not a citizen by birth, would need a constitutional amendment," he went on.

Members of the Riigikogu's special committee for the oversight of security authorities said the issue of revoking citizenship from those born as citizens has not been discussed at the level of that committee.

Center Party MP Lauri Laats said the problem's severity needs to be analyzed in the first instance, while innocent people should not suffer because of this.

"Those people who live in the Russian Federation but have the right to Estonian citizenship based on their roots, must, naturally, as current law states, retain this right. When this gets abused, then there are law enforcement agencies which exist which can prevent it," said Laats.

Social Democrat MP Raimond Kaljulaid said constitutional amendments require serious discussion.

At the same time, the growing security threat cannot be ignored, he added.

Kaljulaid said: "So that Estonian security agencies would get all possible powers under the law to combat this growing threat, so that we have enough staffing to do so, and that we would have sufficient resources, including financial ones: These are things which also need to be considered."

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