Russia's strategic goal has remained unchanged since the early 1990s, Palloson told Tuesday's "Esimene stuudio."

"Since the beginning of the '90s, it has been Russia's ambition for Estonia and the other Baltic states to belong to its sphere of influence, and they are putting in a great deal of effort to restore that sphere. All the influence operations, intelligence activities, efforts, and investments Russia is making toward that end are enormous, and our task as a security agency is to counter that — take measures and block it — so that such a sphere of influence does not form here in any way," he said.

The ISS is currently in peak form, its director general said.

While the agency's most recent yearbook, published Monday, may give the impression that Russia's interest in Estonia has grown, Palloson said it has always been high.

"I cannot say that Estonia is now the number one target of Russian interest, but it is certainly high on the list. First, border states always attract more interest from Russian services because they want to know who the neighbor is and what is going on there. Second, we are a member of NATO and the European Union. In terms of security and policy, we are fundamentally opposed to Russia. Through us, there is a theoretical pathway to access NATO and EU secrets," Palloson explained.

Estonia's new security changes are of major interest to Russia, he added.

"The task of Russian intelligence services is to have a clear picture of what Estonia's new defense capabilities are and what we are doing here together with our allies. The interest is high, and this is best illustrated by the statistics. If we look at the fact that over 30 Russian agents have been identified and convicted, that in itself reflects the level of interest," Palloson said.

Russian agents who have infiltrated Estonia are motivated by very different factors, and only five of them have been so-called classic traitors.

"The motivation varies greatly, and recruitment is highly person-specific. But one thing they all have in common is that there have actually been very few classic traitors, meaning Estonian state officials with access to official state secrets," the director general said.

The remaining 25 agents caught by the ISS were ordinary people with no access to sensitive information.

"That is what everyone needs to realize, Russian intelligence services are very capable of using ordinary people. It does not matter who you are now, but how you can be developed and directed," Palloson said.

The tasks assigned to agents vary, and there is increasing focus on the cyber realm.

"There are tasks that involve monitoring and documenting military and strategic sites. But what is coming on increasingly strong is cyber espionage," said the ISS director general.

Cyber espionage targeting Estonia does not come only from Russia, but also from China, Iran, and North Korea.

"We are a digital state and increasingly operating on web and digital platforms. That's also one of our vulnerabilities. We need to protect ourselves. Entrepreneurs, for example, should keep in mind that all kinds of customer databases are of great interest to Russian intelligence services, because they contain contact details that can be used for further targeting and cyberattacks," Palloson said.

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