Viacheslav Morozov, a Russian citizen who taught international political theory at the University of Tartu, the most prestigious in Estonia, was arrested on charges of espionage: he will be detained for at least two months in pre-trial detention. The arrest dates back to January 3, but was only made public on Tuesday January 16. According to the Internal Security Service, Estonia’s national security agency, Morozov shared sensitive information with Russian authorities during regular trips to Russia.
Morozov was quite well known among Russian international relations scholars, and had also collaborated with several other foreign and Russian universities. Kristiina Tõnnisson, head of the political science department at the University of Tartu, said the university accepted Morozov’s resignation on January 11, 8 days after his arrest.
Some people who knew Morozov said they were very surprised by his arrest, given that he had always been quite critical of the Russian government. Morozov had publicly condemned the invasion, but had also urged people not to “burn bridges” with Russia, and had actually asked to keep contacts between Western countries and Russians opposed to the war alive.
The Estonian Internal Security Service did not say what kind of information Morozov shared with Russia, but said his arrest indicates the Russian authorities’ desire to infiltrate every sphere of Estonian society.
Estonia is a country in northeastern Europe that borders Russia, and has a sizeable Russian minority living in the country, 23 percent of its 1.3 million inhabitants. For some years the Estonian authorities have said they are alarmed by Russia’s foreign policy, which would like to bring Estonia back into its sphere of influence (as in the times of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union, before 1991, when it was part of it ).