Estonian police have arrested a Russian professor who taught at Tartu University, the Baltic nation's most prestigious higher education institution, on suspicion of spying for Moscow, Estonian authorities revealed on Tuesday.
Estonia's Internal Security Service (ISS) has revealed that it has opened an investigation into Vyacheslav Morozov, a Russian citizen and professor of international politics at the University of Tartu, who allegedly engaged in espionage activities aimed at undermining national security from the Baltic country.
Authorities did not provide further details about Moroso's actions, and the investigation is ongoing, the Security Service and prosecutors said in a joint statement.
“The current case adds to more than twenty previous ones and illustrates the willingness of Russian intelligence to infiltrate various areas of Estonian life, including the scientific sector,” ISS Director General Marko Pallosan quoted from the press release.
“Russian intelligence interest in Estonia is high,” Pallosan assured.
The Estonian court highlighted that Morozov, who has been in pre-trial detention since January 3, was issued an arrest warrant to avoid criminal proceedings and to continue to prevent him from “committing crimes in general”.
Political relations between Russia, a country of 1.3 million people and a member of the European Union and NATO, and neighboring Estonia have been 'frozen' since 1991, when the tiny Baltic state gained independence from the former Soviet Union.
Trainu Olev, the general director of the ISS and a lawyer, told local media this Tuesday that Morozov had been recruited as a spy by the Russian secret services and was on its payroll.
Pallosan told Estonian public broadcaster ERR that Morozov held meetings “with some regularity” with members of the Russian secret services in his home country.
Founded in 1632, the University of Tartu is the oldest and largest university in Estonia.
Morozov has been associated with the university since 2010, where he served as professor of EU-Russia studies between 2016-2023 and professor of international political theory until his arrest.
The university, located in Estonia's second-largest city, announced on Tuesday that it had ended its contract with the Russian professor.
According to information on his page on the social network Facebook, Morozov is a political scientist and a former professor at St. Petersburg State University, one of Russia's leading educational institutions.