The Russian Embassy in Estonia actively promotes Russian higher education on its website, offering scholarships regardless of academic performance and free language courses to help students enrol.

Neither the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research nor the education information system has data on how many Estonians study in Russia, though UNESCO statistics put the figure at 384 in 2023, the year after the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine began.

Interior Minister Igor Taro (Eesti 200) said going to Russia to study is "one of the strangest and most incomprehensible reasons for traveling there," warning that Estonia's ability to provide consular and other assistance to any of its citizens who found themselves in danger would be extremely limited.

Taro said a foreign national could be taken hostage for instance to exchange for captured Russian intelligence operatives, or placed in a situation where signing a contract with the Russian defense ministry ended up the only way out for them — followed by being immediately dispatched to the frontline in Ukraine.

The Internal Security Service (KAPO) says Estonian residents traveling to Russia attract the attention of Russian intelligence, may be detained, and face unpredictable application of Russian law.

KAPO bureau chief Marta Tuul said those interested in studying in Russia are primarily from Russian-speaking backgrounds, and that Russian universities host intelligence officers working under cover who identify and recruit students.

Tuul said recruits may not be activated immediately, with intelligence services waiting until they reach positions useful to them, and that the fate of African students who have been sent to the front cannot be ruled out for Estonians either.

In August, Postimees reported that Nikita Kuzmin, born in Estonia, enrolled at a university in St Petersburg, was recruited by the GRU, given the choice of cooperation or the front, and gathered information on military and civilian sites in Narva before being caught and sentenced to four years.

Prosecutor Margaret Beres said Kuzmin had no accomplices in Estonia and was caught early on, so no significant damage was caused to Estonia's security.

The full Postimees piece is here.

--

Follow ERR News on Facebook and Twitter and never miss an update!