Helen Wright

Jan 21, 2025 | news.err.ee | Helen Wright

Dozens of European Union countries suspended or stopped processing asylum applications from Syrian nationals at the end of last year due to the fall of the regime. At the start of December, the Ministry of Interior said there were no plans to introduce a similar measure in Estonia. However, on December 25, Minister of Foreign Affairs Margus Tsahkna (Eesti 200) said Estonia would not extend international protection to Syrians.

Jan 20, 2025 | news.err.ee | Helen Wright

Norway is a founding member of NATO and was the only member state bordering Russia for 50 years until Poland joined the alliance in 1999 — taking the border to Kaliningrad — followed by Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in 2004. The country contributes forces to the EFP (NATO's Enhanced Forward Presence — ed.) in Lithuania and Poland and regularly holds military exercises in northern Norway, in which the Estonian Navy participated last year.

Jan 16, 2025 | news.err.ee | Helen Wright

Eerik Purgel, the head of the border guard office of the eastern prefecture, told ERR News the number of "illegal" border crossings on the land border between Estonia and Russia has fallen. "For example, if in 2023 the border guards discovered 46 people illegally crossing the border in the area between the border points, then last year the border guards caught a total of 25 people," he said.

Jan 14, 2025 | news.err.ee | Helen Wright

Over the past 18 months, several pipelines and electricity and internet cables have been damaged in the Baltic Sea mostly connecting Finland with other countries in the region such as Estonia, Sweden and Germany. The most recent was on Christmas Day. In at least two cases, ships dragging their anchors are thought to be the cause. Sabotage is suspected, but difficult to prove – as is typical of hybrid warfare. Vessels have been flagged from Hong Kong, China and the Cook Islands in the South Pacific.

Jan 13, 2025 | news.err.ee | Helen Wright

eGA is working with FIIAPP, the Spanish Government's development cooperation organization on the four-year "Cuba Digital" project, which is based on a 2016 agreement between the bloc and island nation to modernize public administration. Estonia creates the services, while Spain is drawing up the legal framework for public and private information use with a goal to reduce existing inequalities. "Our experts are advising on secure data exchange and interoperability solutions.