"After all, this is a top leader of the Center Party who has decided to go against the Estonian state to protect the Kremlin regime and the Moscow Patriarch," said Läänemets.

Läänemets added that considering Toom's actions in the past, this is not a big surprise.

"Jana Toom has also in the past paid legal fees and lawyers to people who have done something against the Estonian state. There was Zoja Paljamar [an activist of the Immortal Regiment], a lady who was a Russian citizen, who was expelled from Estonia. In exactly the same way, Jana Toom took up her defense and paid those legal fees. That, you could say, is already a pattern. And it is also a pattern that every time either the Center Party or Jana Toom builds its logic on oppressing, harassing the defenseless," the interior minister said.

On Monday, Toom said lawyers from law firm Sirel & Partners have agreed to represent MPEÕK.

Läänemets said he does not understand what or who Toom is trying to protect.

"For a member of the European Parliament, a top leader of the Center Party, to defend the Kremlin in this way, to hire lawyers, to spend money in a situation where the Center Party has no money at all and elections are taking place – then there must be something very important to defend there, or there must be some very strong connections as to why this is being done," he said.

The minister said this could slow down the process of separating MPEÕK from the Moscow Patriarchate.

Läänemets said that just because there is no direct war propaganda in MPEÕK churches does not mean that there is no so-called Russkii Mir propaganda in its messages.

"Put simply, the Kremlin regime has an information pipeline to Estonia through the local (Russian Orthodox) church and through the parishes they are always talking about the Russkii Mir, softening the guilt of Russia for the people. They say that there is a conflict in Ukraine, there is a war, it has to stop, but they never talk about Russia's role in how Russia invaded Ukraine," the SDE chairman said.

"The second thing is that in every church (MPEÕK) today they pray to Patriarch Kirill and wish him well and success. And that means that people are praying and wishing for success, that things will go well in Ukraine in Russia, that people will die," the minister added.

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