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EESTI ELU reedel, 1. novembril 2019 — Friday, November 1, 2019
Nr. 44
An unjustified tragedy that cannot be repeated TOOMAS LUKK, Ambassador, Republic of Estonia 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 (II) The unit is named ‘29155’. It has been active for at least 10 years, but has been identified only recently by the West. This Russian elite unit concentrates on subversion, sabo tage and assassination particularly aimed at Europe. Western intelligence has not yet been able to establish how often the unit is deployed and predict when and what the next target is to be. It has been responsible for the poisoning of ex-Russian spy, Sergei Skripal in the UK, the poisoning of a weapons dealer in Bulgaria, the destabilization campaign in Moldovia and the attempted coup in Montenegro. The unit is attached to the Russian military intelligence service (GRU) and is based behind concrete walls in the headquarters of the 161 Special Purpose Specialist Training Centre in east Moscow. The operations of unit 29155 are conducted in such ultra secrecy that regular personnel of the GRU in all likelihood don’t even know of the unit’s existence. The trained special ists of the group are decorated veterans of the previous, bloodiest Russian military engagements such as in Chechnya, Afganistan and Ukraine. Unit 29155 is known to be well prepared to for “diver sionary” missions, “in groups or individually – bombings, murders, anything”, according to a retired GRU officer. British officials have attributed the murder of Alexander Litvinenko to the Federal Security Service (FSB), officially a domestic agency, often seen as a rival to the GRU. The FSB was once headed by Putin. This Unit 29155 is not the only group authorized to autho rized to carry out these covert operations. Unit 74455 has in terfered in the 2016 British elections. The annexation of Crimea was attributed to the involvement of Unit 99450. A photo from 2017 has the unit’s commander, major-gener al Andrei Averjanov posing with colonel Anatoli Tsepiga, ac cused of being involved with the poisoning of Skripal. Employing propaganda, disinformation, hacking attacks and outright military actions, unit 2915 starkly demonstrates the lengths to which Vladimir Putin will go in outright fight ing the West with his version of hybrid warfare. Many operations have been foiled. However, Moscow seems to be bent on continuing its operations. It hasn’t been humiliated and thus has shifted tactically. A steady barrage of dis information and propaganda is complemented by covert intelligence activity. This could be a variation of hacking and leaking authentic or distorted mate rials, It could consist of buying the services and support of complying individuals, with “black money”, to influence election campaigns and media outlets. Following the poisoning of Skripal and the exposure of involved GRU operatives, the international outrage caught Moscow off guard. But it seems not to have, except tempo rarily, deterred Moscow from pursuing its intense, aggressive program. Putin relies on Russia’s intelligence agencies to be at the vanguard of asserting the country’s international plans. (To be continued in a future issue.)
LAAS LEIVAT
This year marks 80 years since a pivotal event that dra matically changed European history: the signing of the infamous Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact (MRP) or “Treaty of Non-Aggression between Ger many and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics,” on 23 August 1939. This develop ment stunned the world since an alliance between Com mu nism and Nazism had been inconceivable. At the core of the MRP were its secret protocols declaring the Baltic States, Finland, eastern Poland and Bessarabia in Soviet Russia’s and the majority of Poland in Germany’s sphere of influence. The unrestrained military strengthening of Ger many had already become a major problem in world politics by the late 1930s. With the signing of the MRP at onset of WWII, Eastern European coun tries found themselves caught between two aggressive totali tarian regimes. Millions had already lost their lives in both Nazi Ger many and Stalinist Russia long before the first round of World War II was fired. A startling pattern of behavior was emerg ing in the shape of purges and ethnic cleansings (the Holocaust and Holodomor), deportations, labor camps and concentration camps, extrajudicial killings and imprisonments. Before long, both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union occupied parts of Poland. Indeed, in September 1939, The New York Times, in an editorial titled “The Russian Betrayal,” concluded that ideo logically the Nazis and Soviets were not that far apart and depicted Hitlerism as brown communism and Stalinism as red fascism. The MRP is considered one of the main triggers of World War II. It confirmed that neither the Nazis nor the Soviets could resist the expansionist efforts of the other, and it demoted small er nations to the status of pawns in the grand designs of Europe’s two totalitarian powers. Eighty years later, Russia continues to uphold the narra tive of the MRP as a measure of the last resort that saved lives and should be judged in the real political and historical context of pre-war period. MRP is pre sented as an inevitability that requires no justification or excuse for the injustice it in flicted upon Eastern Europe. … Estonia is one of the coun tries significantly affected by the MRP. Before WWII, rela tions between the Republic of Estonia and the Soviet Russia were based on the Tartu Peace Treaty of 1920, where Russia recognized de jure the indepen dence of Estonia and renounced “forever the sovereignty that Russia had over the people and
land of Estonia”. But after the occupation of Poland, the Soviet Union fo cused on the Baltic States. Estonia was urged to sign a socalled “mutual assistance pact,” allowing for the placement of Soviet military bases on its territory. According to the So viets, Estonia’s policy of neu trality endangered the security of the USSR, and the conditions of the 1920 Peace Treaty no longer satisfied Russians. Russia insisted that its in terests be taken into account and threatened Estonia with war. The pact was eventually signed. The Red Army crossed the border in October 1939 and occupied Estonia in June 1940. Widely seen as an illegitimate takeover, the U.S. announced promptly that it did not recog nize the forceful changes that had taken place in the Baltic States, marking the beginning of a policy of non-recognition by Western countries. Despite its neutrality, Estonia was occupied in turn by both Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia. The “liberation” of Estonia by the Red Army in September 1944 led to the creation of numerous armed resistance groups known collec tively as “forest brothers,” mas sive deportations to the Gulag prison camps in Siberia, and a wave of boat refugees to the West. On the 40th anniversary of the MRP in 1979, amidst an occupation, forty-five Baltic citizens sent a public letter, The Baltic Appeal, to world leaders, demanding public disclosure of the pact and its secret protocols, its annulment ab initio, and res toration of the independence of the Baltic States. Five Russian democrats, including Nobel Prize Laureate Andrei Sakharov, also signed the appeal. They acknowledged that the an
nexation of the Baltic States by the Soviet Union took place “in disregard of the wishes of the people of these lands”. The appeal constituted the basis for the European Parliament’s reso lution of January 13, 1983 in support of its demands. On the 80th anniversary of the MRP, or Black Ribbon Day, Canadian political parties clearly expressed their stance on it. On behalf of the Government of Canada, Prime Minister Tru d eau called on “all Canadians to honor the victims and sur vivors of Communism and Nazism, and of all totalitar ian and authoritarian regimes, past and present.” After fifty-five years, on 31 August 1994, Russian Federation troops finally left Estonia in ac cordance with the July Accords signed between Estonian Presi dent Lennart Meri and Boris Yeltsin a month earlier. For Estonia, the agreement was an historic achievement. After the restoration of inde pendence, the Baltic States have been successful in developing their economy and integrating with the rest of the free world. Joining NATO and the EU were critical milestones, turning away from the legacy of the Cold War, and celebrating the freedom of choice. Membership in these organizations shows the commitment of Baltic peoples to democratic principles. Bill Clinton, President of the US at the time of the withdrawal, (Continued on page 10)
As part of EUFF 2019 (Nov. 7–21), there will be a screening of the Estonian film The Little Comrade, on Friday, November 15 at 6:00 pm at The Royal Cinema, 608 College St. Admission is free.
