Mogherini: Kohver case taken up in important meetings with Russian officials
The European Union's foreign affairs chief, Federica Mogherini, completely shares the concerns regarding the abduction of Eston Kohver, she said in response to Estonian MEP Urmas Paet and Guy Verhofstadt, the leader of Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Group (ALDE) in the European Parliament.
"Rest assured that the issue is receiving my constant attention and will be raised in our relevant contacts with our Russian counterparts, as has been done in the past," Mogherini wrote. She added that she will continue to call for an immediate release of Estonian Security Services official Eston Kohver, who was abducted in gunpoint near the Estonian-Russian border and has been detained in Russia for more than seven months.
Mogherini has previously released two statements, in September 2014 and March 2015, expressing her concerning over the continued detention of the Estonian agent, the lack of adequate legal aid and of fair proceedings in his case.
"The EU Delegation in Moscow has repeatedly been in contact with the Russian authorities asking for a swift resolution in the matter. The issue was most recently raised by the EEAS Deputy Secretary General Helga Schmid at the level of Deputy Foreign Ministers during her recent visit to Moscow on April 17," Mogherini said.
Paet and Verhofstadt called on Mogherini in March to take up the Eston Kohver issue at her meetings and correspondence with Russian authorities, and do everything at her disposal to secure the agent's release.
Kohver was abducted on September 5 during an information collection operation in south-eastern Estonia and has been held at the Lefortovo prison in Moscow on spying charges ever since.
Editor: M. Oll