Events Leading Up to Release Remain a Mystery
As details flood in about what everyday life in captivity was like for the Estonian cyclists, the government continues to be tight-lipped about the surprisingly sudden resolution to the crisis.
Foreign Minister Urmas Paet and other officials have only emphasized that the release came about through many visits to Lebanon by ministry officials, international cooperation and the involvement of other national bodies such as the Security Police.
Prime Minister Andrus Ansip said at the government press conference on July 14: "Governments do not pay ransoms. This declaration does not apply only to the government of Estonia but governments of other countries say exactly the same. You won't hear anything else from behind this desk."
Hannes Hanso, an expert on the Middle East and Asia who was a member of a bicycle expedition across the Middle East that was the subject of a documentary for Estonian Television, points out that some countries are known for paying up - Italy for instance. Hanso says that if a ransom was paid by Estonia, it should remain a secret forever. This, he argued on ETV, would allow the Estonian government to save face and deprive future would-be kidnappers of an incentive.
"It is important that we didn't go the route of populism here in Estonia. At the beginning there were some calls from MPs to start raising money. That would have been a great foolishness," he told ETV.
Jüri Käosaar, the father of one of the hostages, Kalev Köosaar, says he for one believes no ransom was paid. He subscribes to the currently leading theory: the newly elected Lebanese government was looking to earn plus points with a West mistrustful of the new government's Hezbollah and Syria ties.
Kristopher Rikken