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EESTI ELU reedel, 25. oktoobril 2019 — Friday, October 25, 2019
Nr. 43
EKKT welcomes new artists
English-language supplement to the Estonian weekly “EESTI ELU” Tartu College Publishing Committee Founding Chairman: Elmar Tampõld Editorial Board: Enn Kiilaspea, Jüri Laansoo, Tarvo Toomes Editor: Laas Leivat 3 Madison Avenue, Toronto, ON M5R 2S2 T: 416-733-4550 • F: 416-733-0944 • E-mail: editor@eestielu.ca
Russian intelligence after invading Ukraine European observers are con vinced that Russia has been emboldened by its successful annexation of Crimea in 2014 and military incursion in Ukraine. Their heightened covert activity in Europe is a clear sign that Moscow sees its intelligence operations in Europe as politically advanta geous. Russia initiated a campaign of anti-Western subversion and propaganda at the same time, all intended to distract, disrupt and demoralize. The brazen but unprofessional attempt to poi son ex-Russian GRU operative Sergei Skripal in England was a clear example of the new levels of aggression that Russia’s intelligence services have been instructed to deploy. Eerik Kross, former director of intelligence in Estonia has observed: “The numbers of Russian intelligence personnel in Western Europe are back to Cold War levels. … A basic rule of thumb, which counts for Russia nowadays, is to take the number of diplomats working in Russian embassies and con sulates (abroad) and about half of them are spies. … Then consider another number – its network of covert agents work ing under non-diplomatic cover, such as businessmen, journalists, or lobbyists – and it’s about the same again.” Active operations have taken priority over gathering informa tion for Moscow. Influence operations – recruitment of agents in target institutions – are usually harder to detect and to prove. NATO officials have indicated that Russia seems to be com mitted to this campaign in spite of the number of operations that have been foiled or exposed. According to NATO, Greece expelled two Russian diplomats and banned two others in July 2018, citing attempts to inter fere with the historic vote in what is now officially known as the Republic of North Macedo nia over changing the country’s name. Britain and Netherlands have accused Russian agents of at tempting to hack in to the Organization for the Prohibition
of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), while the investigation of the chemical attack on Skripal was underway. In fact four GRU officers were actually detained by the Dutch while they were hacking in the OPCW systems in The Hague. Sweden declared a Russian spy persona non grata recently. Also a Swedish national was arrested for contacts with a Russian SVR – foreign intelli gence – officer. A major in the Belgian mili tary intelligence service (ADIV) has been accused of spying for the Russians. The effectiveness of state security in Belgium, protecting both NATO and EU, is currently being scrutinized. Of the NATO countries, Belgium spends the lowest on its intelligence ser vices – 0.01 percent of its GDP. The UK spends 0.15, and has about 4,000 working for MI5 alone. Estonia, with a significantly smaller state budget, spends 0.1 percent of GDP. It’s considered to be a front-line state to its main adversary. Belgium has a global responsibility with both the EU’s and NATO’s centers there. According to Kross, Esto nia’s counter-intelligence sec tion, specializing in Russian penetration, employs officers totaling into three figures. “The vulnerability of the EU and, to a certain extent, NATO is an old problem,” said Kross. “The Russian threat mostly comes from one or two sources (FSB and GRU), but counter-intelli gence comes from all 29 NATO or 28 EU states and their various institutions, so it’s not a fair game. The Russians have an advantage.” Taking the case of Herman Simm (head of security at the ministry of defence who held Estonian and NATO highly classified military records) in 2009, Kross commented: “It was difficult to catch (him) … It’s hard psychologically and personally, to go after your own, because these are people who’ve worked with you, whom you have trusted. It took years.” (to be continued) LAAS LEIVAT
Digital Eesti Elu has arrived! Thank you to everyone who participated in the Eesti Elu survey throughout 2019. We appreciate all the feedback we received from our readers about how the newspaper has been serving the community, what they like to read and how best to move forward with the publication to sup port its sustainability for many years to come. The results of the survey and a lot of teamwork have led us to an exciting announcement – Eesti Elu is releasing its digital publication! We are taking this time to in troduce the new platform to all our readers and hear your thoughts about it. The remain ing issues in 2019 will be pub lished free for everyone to read online on Eesti Elu website (www.eestielu.ca) via Issuu dig ital platform. Please enjoy the colourful digital newspapers, fa miliarize yourself with the plat form and kindly share your feedback on how it is working for you on our website. The survey was conducted from February 22 until Sep tember 30, 2019. We collected a total of 525 responses, 31 on paper and 494 via online sur vey. The survey was shared in the EE printed issue, via email, EE website and Facebook page. The survey was offered in both Estonian and English. 48% of respondents are current sub scribers, 76% of them have been loyal subscribers for more than 10 years. 71% of all res pondents had read EE within the last two months. The majority of responses came from Ontario (79%), fol lowed by other Canadian prov inces (10%). We had 23 partici pants from the U.S. and 16 from Estonia. 80% of survey re spondents are aged 45 years or older, 47% are retirees. 46% of respondents are employed (either part or full time) and 2% are students. The main reasons for sub scribing are following: read news about Estonian activities in Canada, read news about Estonian Canadians, including memorial notices and read news about Estonia. 19% of respondents have subscribed in the past but have stopped for such reasons as: prefer to read online, not having the time to read the paper, financial reasons, or having ac
Three sisters Livia Burghardt, Ilona Burghardt and Maia Shefler (all granddaughters of artist Osvald Eslon 1895-1961).
Ilona Burghardt standing in front of one of her works.
They have all become members of EKKT (The Society of Estonian Artists in Toronto). Livia is a poet and photo grapher, Ilona is an artist (with grandfather’s artistic genes) and Maia is our EKKT supporting member. What is amazing about how these three sisters of Estonian heri tage became EKKT members, is the story that now will be told. About 3 weeks ago Maia Shefler discovered grandfather Osvald’s paintings on the Toronto Estonian Virtual Art Gallery website www.tevag.ca and Maia and her husband Eric came by Mai Vomm Jarve’s art gallery/condominium and purchased two of Osvald’s works. Through talking with Maia, Jaak and Mai discovered that Ilona was an artist also. We invited Ilona to join the EKKT and exhibit her works at the 64th Annual Art Exhibition held at the Estonian House in Toronto. Not only did Ilona show up at the exhibition with her works, but she also brought her two sisters with her to the official opening. Jaak introduced the sisters to the fellow members and exhibition guests, and mentioned how delighted he was to have three granddaughters of Osvald Eslon attend the exhibition. It is definitely good karma, when we can wel come second and third generation Estonians back to the Estonian community. Look for more of Ilona’s works on the website shortly, and EKKT will also organize a Photography Exhibition in the future where we will be able to see Livia’s JAAK JÄRVE works also. cess to family member’s paper. Subscription rates are highest among respondents aged 45+; 57% of them are paying read ers. 11% of respondents aged 44 and under are currently EE subscribers. 60% of respondents currently visit the EE website and
Facebook page and 52% of responses state they are aware that Eesti Elu and Estonian World Review are two sepa rate publications. The most popular areas of content that over 70% of all re spondents are interested in are (Continued on page 10)
