Koos party board member Igor Hopp told ERR that the party plans to run in many regions for the October elections, but will primarily focus on Ida-Viru County and Tallinn. According to Hopp, they hope to win in Narva and Sillamäe.

"These are areas where we could win because we have quite strong support there," said the party board member.

Hopp noted that it is still difficult to say whether Aivo Peterson, the party's biggest vote magnet so far, will be on their candidate list and whether the man accused of treason will even be able to participate in the elections.

"His last court hearings are in April, and we don't know whether the hearings will continue or if this will be the final one. We'll see, and then we'll decide whether he will run this year or not," Hopp said.

Oleg Ivanov, who fled to Russia and was forced to leave the Koos party, said that Peterson is considering running on the same list as him and his like-minded Estonian colleagues.

"Aivo Peterson called me from prison and indeed suggested that we run together in the local elections," said Ivanov. "I am only interested in Estonian politics if we, together with Aivo Peterson and our team of Estonians — many of whom are ethnic Estonians — can create a common national platform where Russians and Estonians can work honestly, without intrigue, defamation or backroom talks, in order to save our country from a world war. That is what interests me," Ivanov emphasized.

Peterson himself, who is currently in prison and called the journalist before this story was published, told ERR that he has not yet decided whether to run in the fall elections. However, he dismissed Ivanov's suggestion that they could form a separate electoral alliance outside of the Koos party, adding that his cooperation with Oleg Ivanov is in the past.

Peterson and Ivanov's stance acceptable, while Ivanov is not

The Koos party, which is preparing for the local elections in October of this year, does not see Oleg Ivanov — who was expelled from the party — running on its list. According to board member Igor Hopp, Ivanov is not a team player and was essentially subjected to a vote of no confidence within the party, as reported by "Pealtnägija" on Wednesday.

While running on the same electoral list is ruled out, Hopp stated that party members still agree with many of Ivanov's views. For example, he claimed that the war in Ukraine was not started by Russia but by the United States and the European Union and that Russia poses no threat to Estonia.

"If someone wants to know who started this conflict, who carried out the coup in Ukraine — it was NATO, the U.S. and Europe. They supported it, and they did it," Hopp said. "What happened in Ukraine was not simply that Russia wanted to invade and did so. This is a complex process and it didn't start three years ago but much earlier. It began when NATO started expanding."

Although the Koos party's views contradict mainstream opinions in Estonia, Hopp insisted that the party is not pushing the Kremlin's agenda or engaging in influence operations or information warfare.

"I could also say whatever I want — that someone here is a CIA agent — but how do you prove it? We started this movement two years ago, and already back then, we were labeled as Kremlin provocateurs. It's just a media narrative," Hopp said.

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