Security service warns FSB trying to recruit Estonians at Russian border
Estonia's Internal Security Service (ISS/KAPO) has warned that an FSB agent is trying to recruit Estonians at the Estonian-Russian border, after a 24-year-old from Narva was jailed for collaboration with the intelligence agency.
On Tuesday, Estonian citizen Ivan Dmitrijev was sentenced to almost five years in prison for conducting intelligence activities against Estonia.
From March to May 2025, Dmitriev collaborated with Aleksandr Bobkov, an officer of the FSB Border Guard Operations Department. On his instruction, Dmitriev handed over information about the Estonian Defense League, local life in Narva, and the Narva Castle Museum, whose director has been sentenced to 10 years in a penal colony in absentia.
Bobkov is actively engaged in recruiting Estonian residents and may use different names for purposes of secrecy, the ISS said in a statement reported (click to see a photo) by Postimees.
The agency asks that anyone who has had contact with the FSB employee while crossing the Estonian-Russian border report it at info24@kapo.ee.
People connected to the Estonian security services and their close contacts are high-priority recruitment targets for Russian special services in Russia, the statement said.
"All kinds of methods are used to obtain valuable information and to recruit people for covert cooperation, including inducement, pressure, and intimidation," it added.
All individuals involved in exercises and national defense are strongly advised to avoid traveling to Russia and to notify the ISS of any contact with the Russian intelligence service or anyone working on its behalf.
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Editor: Helen Wright
Source: Postimees, Delfi
