Russia declares Estonian PM Kaja Kallas a 'wanted' person
February 13, 2024
Russia declared Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas a "wanted" person on Tuesday.
The website of Russia's interior ministry included Kallas in a database as being "wanted under the criminal code."
Estonia's State Secretary Taimar Peterkop and Lithuania's Culture Minister Simonas Kairys were also named on the wanted list.
What are the charges?
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov later said that Kallas and the other Baltic lawmakers had been put on the wanted list for hostile actions against Russia and the "desecration of historical memory."
"These are people who take hostile actions against historical memory and our country," Peskov told reporters.
A Russian security source, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told Russia's state-run TASS news agency that the three were being prosecuted for "destroying monuments to Soviet soldiers" in World War II.
Kallas has been a vocal supporter of Ukraine since Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022.
She has been one of the strongest voices in the European Union and in NATO in favor of providing more arms to Ukraine.
zc/rc (AFP, Reuters, EFE)