Pevkur: we wish to strip Dressen of Estonian citizenship
Interior Minister Hanno Pevkur said the government wants to take convicted traitor Aleksei Dressen's Estonian citizenship, after he received a presidential pardon as part of a exchange with Russia for Eston Kohver, an Estonian official abducted by Russia.
Dressen received Estonian citizenship via naturalization in 1993, and his citizenship can only be stripped by a government decision, Delfi reported.
“I believe this is necessary. We are preparing it and once we are finished, the decision can be put in front of the government,” Pevkur said, adding that the topic will be raised at the weekly Cabinet meeting in two weeks time, as Pevkur is on the road before that.
Dressen does not currently have Russian citizenship, nor does he have a ban on entering Estonia.
Dressen, a former Estonian intelligence official, was sentenced to 16 years in 2012 for treason and handing Russia sensitive information. Kohver is an Estonian secret service official, who was abducted by Russia in 2014 and sentenced to 15 years for alleged espionage this August.
The two were recently exchanged by Russia and Estonia.
Editor: J.M. Laats