Estonia

CBS News reported on Thursday that the Trump administration is considering further restrictions on Russian oil, gas, and banking, even as the European Union (EU) prepares to remove several ultra-rich Russian oligarchs from its sanctions list under pressure from Hungary and Slovakia.

The flow of electricity between the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and Russia was officially severed Saturday morning after officials switched off the Soviet-era grid’s transmission lines and prepared to join the rest of Europe on Sunday.

There are reportedly concerns that putting too many troops in Ukraine would leave Europe’s northeast border with Russia perilously unguarded.

For the West, the incidents are a test of resolve in the face of what are believed to be widespread sabotage attacks linked to Moscow.

Russian-linked ‘dark fleet’ ship suspected of cutting cables on Christmas Day may have been also moonlighting as a signals intelligence ship.

A major electricity interconnector unexpectedly went offline on Christmas day, with officials saying they are not ruling out sabotage.

Believed to have broken the car windows of the Interior Minister and a journalist in December, the Estonian Internal Security Service said.

Estonia´s prime minister on a wanted list in Russia because of her efforts to remove Soviet-era World War II monuments in the NATO nation.

West no longer post-Cold War and is in a new “pre-war” era with limited time left to prepare for and deter future conflicts, the UK says.

Zelensky has arrived in Latvia, the final stop on his Baltic mini-tour as he attempts to drum up further support and missiles.

The foreign ministers of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania said they “deeply regret the decision enabling the personal participation” of Lavrov.

Finland and Estonia said the undersea Balticconnector gas pipeline has been temporarily taken out of service due to a suspected leak.

Finland joined the three Baltic countries in banning vehicles with Russian license plates from entering their territory.

Strikes across Russia overnight are the largest of the Ukraine war so far, reports claim, and hit targets as far away as northeastern Europe.

Poland and the Baltic states said they will close their borders with Belarus in the event of a military incidents or a migrant push by Minsk.

During an interview with Bloomberg on Tuesday, Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas called on NATO members to step up their defense spending and meet their commitments on the issue, especially because the U.S. has elections coming up and this means it’s

Russia-bordering Estonia and Latvia plan jointly to acquire German air defense systems for the protection of the two NATO nations’ airspace.

Royal Air Force and Luftwaffe jets with the Baltic Air Command intercepted a group of Russian aircraft, including a spy plane, on Tuesday. 

The three Baltic states condemned comments by China’s envoy to France, who suggested that former Soviet republics aren’t sovereign nations.

Estonian PM Kaja Kallas said her centre-right Reform Party struck a deal to form a coalition government five weeks after the general election.

Typhoon jets from the RAF and Luftwaffe with the NATO Baltic air policing mission scrambled to intercept two Russian jets.

Thoughts are turning to the end of the Ukraine war, with suggestions from war crimes trials to Ukrainian tanks parked in Moscow’s Red Square.

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) – In a dusty workshop in northern Lithuania, a dozen men are transforming hundreds of wheel rims into potbelly stoves to warm Ukrainians huddled in trenches and bomb shelters. As the sparks subside, one welder marks the countertop: 36 made that day. Hours later, they’ve reached 60.

For Ukrainian and Russian military planners, the clock is ticking, with the approach of winter expected to make fighting more complicated.

The Prime Minister of Estonia has warned that her country faces blackouts if Russia disconnects the three Baltic states — all NATO and EU members — from its grid amid the ongoing Russo-Western sanctions war. 

EU countries called to ban tourist visas, but some nations said ordinary Russians who may oppose the war shouldn’t be punished.

MOSCOW (AP) – Russia’s top counter-intelligence agency on Monday blamed Ukrainian spy services for organizing the killing of the daughter of a leading Russian nationalist ideologue in a car bombing just outside Moscow.

Estonia’s government said Tuesday it has decided to remove a Soviet-era monument from public space in an eastern border town.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) – Estonia decided Thursday to bar people from neighbouring Russia with tourist visas from entering the northernmost Baltic country as a consequence of the war in Ukraine.

The leaders of Estonia and Finland want fellow European countries to stop issuing tourist visas to Russian citizens.

South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) on Thursday was formally admitted to the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defense Center of Excellence (CCDCOE), becoming the first Asian member of the defensive alliance.

As a number of EU leaders – including the President of Poland – visit Ukraine, Germany has been left licking its wounds after apparently being told that their head of state is ‘not wanted’ in the country.

European politicians floated an embargo on Russian gas after accusing Moscow of being behind an alleged massacre of civilians.

VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) – Lithuania on Monday announced that it will expel Russia’s ambassador and recall its envoy in Moscow in reaction to increasing signs that Russian forces may have committed war crimes in Ukraine.

Viewed from Paris, London and Washington, the events unfolding in Ukraine may seem like a new Cold War taking shape in Europe.

Russia has mocked Britain’s Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary for appearing to suggest the Baltic States are located on the Black Sea, suggesting the world needs to be saved from “the stupidity and ignorance of Anglo-Saxon politicians”