For instance, even the legal status of the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, a major stop-off site for foreign tourists and located in Toompea, reportedly remains unclear.

The Estonian state formally registered the MPEÕK 2002, a little over a decade after Estonia had become independent again.

Prior to that, registration had hindered by the desire of the Russian Orthodox Church's to become the legally appointed successor of the Orthodox Church which had operated in Estonia before the Soviet occupation, ie. during the period of the First Estonian Republic.

The state refused this request, having in 1993 already recognized the Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church (EAÕK) as the bearer of this legal continuity.

In October 2002, then-interior minister Ain Seppik, following a mandate from then-prime minister Siim Kallas' government, inked a protocol of intent with MPEÕK Metropolitan Cornelius.

This transferred 18 various church buildings and parochial houses to the Moscow-led church.

Of these, EAÕK, the legal successor of the Orthodox Church operating before 1940, had relinquished the restitution claims on 13 properties.

However, five church and parochial buildings had been returned to EAÕK, but these were de facto in the possession of MPEÕK congregations.

The EAÕK then gave these to the state, after which they were officially transferred to the MPEÕK.

The MPEÕK was granted all these buildings on 50-year leaseholds, at a peppercorn ground rent of one Estonian Kroon (€0.06) per building per month, plus statutory state and local taxes.

A similar transfer of church assets had been used by Estonia as early as 1997, when on October 22 of that year, the state and the EAÕK signed an agreement regarding the Pühtitsa (Kuremäe) Convent, in Ida-Viru County.

The EAÕK in that case waived its right to claim the property used by the MPEÕK – land, buildings, and its sacred attributes, and without transferring this right to anyone else. Following this preliminary, the state was able to lease the property to the convent, which again is a part of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Once agreements like this were concluded, the Ministry of the Interior and the EAÕK issued a joint statement, noting: "Regulating the relations between the Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church and the Russian Orthodox Church and resolving legal issues related to the convent, it is important for the positive development of relations between the Republic of Estonia and the Russian Federation, [a process] which the Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church wishes to contribute to."

Continuous Russian pressure

This statement thus highlighted the importance of Orthodox Church-related matters in relations between the Republic of Estonia, which had recently regained its independence, and the Russian Federation.

All this was prior to the 2014 annexation of Crimea.

Kaarel Tarand, who was at the time press chief with Mart Laar's administration (March 1999 to January 2002), which had preceded Siim Kallas' administration, told ERR how the registration and legalization of MPEÕK followed more than a decade of confrontation with Moscow.

The church issue was one of Russia's "major and strong levers used in harassing Estonia," he said.

Registering the church as an organization was one thing, but the question of church assets was another accompanying matter, Tarand noted.

Estonian governments at the turn of the millennium had been seeking closure, fearing that not doing so might hinder Estonia's EU accession prospects (this accession became reality in 2004).

This was because Russia continually raised the issue on the international stage of the Russian minority in Estonia, with the church part and parcel of this.

Russian authorities used influence operations in other countries to pressure Estonia, as they continue to do today.

Recalling this time, Tarand said: "We were told quite directly by the West, 'Get this matter struck off the agenda, and then we can continue talking'."

Estonia concluded its EU accession negotiations in December 2002, the accession treaty was signed in April of the following year, and Estonia formally became a member of the EU on May 1, 2004.

Well known religious affairs expert Ringo Ringvee, advisor to the Ministry of the Interior, was involved in the 2002 agreements, and acknowledges that Russia has used church issues to pressure Estonia.

He said: "Despite the protocols signed in 2002 and the transfer of church buildings used by the Moscow Patriarchate's church to congregations on a 50 year basis, along with the establishment of building rights, representatives of the Moscow Patriarchate along with Russian politicians have expressed dissatisfaction down the years that the assets do not actually belong to MPEÕK, and see the ultimate solution as transferring the assets to the ownership of MPEÕK congregations."

EAÕK spokesperson Tõnis Rüütel was 22 years ago authorized to negotiate property issues with the state and the MPEÕK

Rüütel also spoke to ERR, saying: "Everything took its time, and there was plenty of quarreling over a lengthy period of time, because the Moscow Patriarchate was already firmly convinced at that time that the assets where congregations under the MPEÕK worship should absolutely and unconditionally go under their ownership, something which the Estonian state could not agree with. The search for compromise went on for quite some time."

Rüütel also recalled meeting with the then head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Alexius II (who died in 2008), during his visit to Tallinn.

"Those were very difficult conversations and very complicated meetings. But eventually, it was concluded that our church, that is, the EAÕK under the headship of Metropolitan Stephanos here, would not budge an inch.

There ended up being a game of ping-pong whereby the Moscow Patriarchate appealed to the government while the latter shrugged its shoulders and said that we can't do anything without the EAOK on board, since they unambiguously qualify as claimants for the restitution of unlawfully expropriated property, so the ball is in their court. But that's how it was eventually resolved. It just took a long time and was complex."

Agreement on the Nevsky Cathedral valid until 2037

Russian pressure has been especially heavy regarding the ownership of the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, on Toompea. The Nevsky Cathedral was not on the list of properties transferred in 2002, and different agreements apply to its usage.

According to Ringvee in his ERR interview, the church building had for years sat on the balance sheet of the City of Tallinn's architectural monuments property management (from 1958, the Tallinn architectural monuments protection inspection).

The church, along with other inspection property, was transferred to municipal ownership on February 4, 1993, and based on a June 29, 1995, order by the Tallinn City Government, the Tallinn Heritage Board transferred the church building to the list of Tallinn City Government, Kesklinn District properties.

Ringvee stressed that: "The movements of the church building on the balance sheet in 1993 and 1995 were null and void according to the Land Reform Act."

Ringvee has also defended a doctoral thesis at the University of Tartu on the relations between the state and the church in post-Soviet Estonia.

According to Ringvee, the Tallinn city commission for the restitution and compensation of unlawfully expropriated property made a decision on October 30, 1995, to return the church building to the EAÕK, yet ownership of the land on which it is situated was not likewise returned.

However, on November 27 of that same year MPEÕK, Archbishop Cornelius addressed a letter to the members of the Tallinn city council, ie. the legislature, urging them to change the commission's decision on the assets of Tallinn's Orthodox congregations.

Cornelius stated that the purpose of the appeal was to maintain peace and harmony among the city's residents, Ringvee said.

As a result of this pressure, the Tallinn city commission for the restitution and compensation of unlawfully expropriated property reversed its decision the return of the Nevsky Cathedral, on December 11, 1995, meaning the church building was not returned to the EAÕK.

The commission's official decision stated that the unlawful expropriation of the building had not been proven, Ringvee outlined.

He said: "This decision meant postponing problems to the future, and also did not resolve the question of whether the church building belonged to the city of Tallinn or should have belonged to the state."

The city signed a zero-rent contract in 2001 with a congregation registered in 1999, and which is a member of MPEÕK.

On February 22, 2001, the Tallinn city council made a decision which required the Kesklinn district government to grant the "Tallinn Stauropegic Alexander Nevsky Congregation" free use of the sacred building at Lossi plats 10, ie. the cathedral, for a 36-year term.

The building has a total area of approximately 1340 square meters.

The congregation was to use the building for religious services and charity work, to take over its administration and management, and to insure it for 6.7 million Estonian kroons (around €430,000).

Alongside the Nevsky Cathedral, the Kuremäe Monastery is also stauropegic, terminology which means they report directly to the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, currently Patriarch Kirill of Moscow.

Tallinn's decisions framed by domestic politics and business interests

While those interviewed by ERR did not mention specific cases, all repeatedly stressed the murky power relations in Tallinn around the end of the 1990s and start of the 2000s, plus the lobbying by businesspeople doing business with Russia, all of which could have served to influence decisions on church property, as in many other areas.

One aspect of this was the double tariffs imposed by Russia on Estonian goods in the mid-1990s, which hindered eastbound exports.

The supposed need to make decisions favorable to the Russian Church was often justified with the hope that it might motivate Moscow to abolish these double tariffs and other restrictions.

In any case, joining the EU in 2004 put paid to the situation with double tariffs.

Another business aspect was the right granted to the Russian Orthodox Church to organize the largely worldly pursuit of tax-free exports of raw materials.

Estonia, as a transit nation, stood to benefit greatly from this.

One name that does repeatedly crop up in descriptions of those chaotic times is that of Robert Lepikson: Mayor of Tallinn from November 1996 to May 1997, after which he was made Minister of the Interior, to January 28, 1998.

As a former businessman engaged in metals, Lepikson had business connections in Russia.

Another prominent businessman, initiator, and supporter of many charitable projects, and one of Estonia's most influential economic figures at the time, was Aadu Luukas. He, too, was mentioned in the course of the conversations.

Investigative weekly Eesti Ekspress has written that Luukas had a good relationship with the then head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Alexius II.

During the Tallinn power politics around the turn of the millennium, there was a period when, to keep the Center Party, which had achieved the strongest result in the 1999 local elections, out of office, the then Pro Patria Union (a forerunner to the present-day Isamaa), the Reform Party, and the now-defunct Moderates (Mõõdukad) formed a coalition with Russian politicians and their electoral alliances, namely the People's Choice (Rahva Valik) and the People's Trust (Rahva Usaldus).

Mayors representing Pro Patria, namely Jüri Mõis and Tõnis Palts, were associated with names such as Nikolai Maspanov, Sergei Ivanov, Jevgeni Kogan (the latter a leader of the pro-Kremlin Interfront organization, which opposed Estonian independence during the Singing Revolution of the late 1980s and early 1990s).

Russian politicians may well have had their own opinions on the Orthodox Church issue too, and they certainly expressed these to their partners, one of the interviewees for this piece told ERR.

In December 2001, however, the Center Party leader Edgar Savisaar became mayor, continuing in this position after the 2002 local elections, until Tõnis Palts became the mayor again in October 2004, through to the 2005 elections.

After those elections, Jüri Ratas became mayor to 2007, when Savisaar returned, this time for 12 years as mayor of the capital.

Center remained in office in Tallinn until just last month, the bulk of that time as the sole ruling party.

ERR was unable to contact Ain Seppik, who was interior minister in 2002.

Appendix: Church property transferred to the MPEÕK in 2002, on 50-year leases.

List of property both retained by the state and transferred to the MPEÕK:

1.      Jumalaema Sündimise kirik (Alajõe).

2.      Jumalailmumise kirik (Jõhvi, Narva mnt 2a).

3.      Jumalailmumise kirik (Lohusuu, Järvemäe 5).

4.      Püha Nikolause kirik (Mustvee, Tartu mnt 14).

5.      Issanda Ülestõusmise kirik (Narva, Bastrakovi 4).

6.      Jumalaema Sündimise kirik (Rakvere, Tallinna 17).

7.      Kogudusemaja (Rakvere, Tallinna 17).

8.      Tallinna Jumalaema Sündimise kirik (Tallinn, Liivalaia 38).

9.      Tallinna Püha Nikolause kirik (Tallinn, Vene 24).

10.  Ristija Johannese kirik (Tallinn, Tähe 2).

11.  Kogudusemaja (Tallinn, Tähe 2).

12.  Jaama kirik (Illuka vald).

13.  Vasknarva kirik (Vasknarva, Alajõe Rural Municipality).

List of property alienated from the state and transferred to the MPEÕK:

1.      Jumalaema Kaitsmise kirik (Nina küla, Alatskivi Rural Municipality).

2.      Kogudusemaja (Surnuaia 16, Haapsalu).

3.      Püha Georgi kirik (Narva mnt 103, Tartu).

4.      Kogudusemaja (Narva mnt 105, Tartu).

5.      Ristija Johannese kirik (Pikk 1, Tapa).

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