The court sentenced Toom to nine months in prison, suspended on the condition that he does not commit another intentional offense within a year, the Office of the Prosecutor General said.

According to the indictment, Toom violated economic sanctions imposed by the Council of the European Union by continuing to serve the business interests of Russia Today despite the ban, State Prosecutor Eneli Laurits explained.

Since January 1, 2020, it has been prohibited to make economic resources available, directly or indirectly, to Dmitry Kiselyov and the media conglomerate associated with him. "Viru District Court agreed with the prosecution's interpretation that making economic resources available could also include creating content for the Russian media conglomerate," the state prosecutor said.

Laurits noted that Toom was charged and convicted for writing more than 100 articles published between July 2020 and December 2023 on Russia Today's Baltnews web portal.

"Although Toom's employment contract with the media conglomerate officially ended in October 2020, he nevertheless continued working covertly, using the pen name 'Paul Tomson' when publishing articles," the state prosecutor said.

Harrys Puusepp, bureau chief for the Estonian Internal Security Service (ISS), which conducted the pretrial investigation, noted that the Council of the European Union imposed the sanctions because of Russia's war of aggression in Ukraine.

The ruling has not entered into force.