Kulla: Estonian Security Compromised by Dozens of Former KGB 'Specialists'
Veiko Kulla, who headed the country's criminal investigation police force in the 1990s, says that Estonia has never had an airtight security structure due to the fact that there are so many people from the Soviet era working in new roles.
Because of people with specialized technical skill sets dating from the Soviet era who were hired in the 1990s, "Everything that we know is also known on the other side of the [Russian] border," said Kulla in remarks to Eesti Päevaleht today, adding that the same was true for Latvian and Lithuanian intelligence.
"At some point in the early days of [re-independent] Estonia, one senior statesman said the golden words - that our security will only start taking shape in 50 years' time, we now have 25 more years until all of the former nomenklatura is gone."
On Wednesday, the Internal Security Service (KaPo) detained a former KGB specialist, Vladimir Veitman, who had been hired by the service in independent Estonia in the 1990s. Veitman is accused of secretly working with Russian special services.
Harju County Court issued an arrest warrant under which Veitman can be held in custody for up to six months before trial on charges of treason.