‘We will not be intimidated,’ says Estonian PM after attributing recent arson attack to Russia – Europe live

Two ministers in Viktor Orbán’s former far-right government suspected separately of misusing millions of euros of public funds and taking millions more in bribes have been detained, hours after Hungarian MPs voted to lift their immunity.

Prosecutors said on Tuesday that Balázs Hankó, Orbán’s culture minister and still an MP in the former prime minister’s nationalist Fidesz party, was ​taken into custody late on Monday. Hankó is suspected of misappropriation of funds. He has denied any wrongdoing.

Miklós Seszták, an MP from Fidesz ally KDNP who served as minister for national development between 2014 and 2018, was also detained on Monday as part of an ⁠investigation into alleged bribery. He too has denied wrongdoing.

In more US-Russia relationship news, Interfax reports that Russian ⁠economy minister ⁠Maxim Reshetnikov ⁠will take ​part in ⁠a G20 ⁠trade ​ministers’ ‌meeting ‌in the US which is scheduled to start tomorrow.

Russian ⁠president ⁠Vladimir Putin’s envoy ​Kirill ⁠Dmitriev had ⁠meetings ​with ‌representatives of ‌US ‌departments of Treasury and Energy ‌during his ​visit to Washington, ⁠sources ​have told ​Reuters.

It is a further sign of the Trump administration normalising relations with Russia despite the ongoing attacks on Ukraine and concerns over Russia’s action from Nato allies. Last week US secretary of state Marco Rubio said the US had invited Putin to attend a G20 summit scheduled for Miami in December.

And the UK has now also offered its support for Estonia after its government’s decision to attribute a recent arson attack to Russia.

UK ambassador to Estonia Jo Lomas said:

“The UK stands with Estonia in confronting these unacceptable attacks. They will not weaken our resolve or our support for Ukraine.”

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s foreign minister Andrii Sybiha condemned Russia’s “terror against Ukraine” which he says is “intensifying by the day,” after another night of attacks on Kyiv and Odesa region.

“This is Russia’s deliberate escalation instead of accepting Ukraine’s offers to cease fire, negotiate, and end the war. Putin’s rejection of peace must have consequences for Russia,” Sybiha said.

He said:

“We are grateful to all partners who are strengthening Ukraine’s air defence and providing the systems and interceptors that are saving lives right now. Every successful interception proves that this support works.

At the same time, Russia must face growing pressure for every new wave of terror. Stronger sanctions, fewer resources for its war machine, and fewer opportunities to circumvent existing restrictions.

Moscow should not be allowed to turn another winter into a weapon. Every Russian escalation must bring the opposite of what the Kremlin expects – stronger protection for Ukraine, greater pressure on Russia, and a higher price for continuing this war.”

France’s Emmanuel Macron is the latest European leader to respond to Estonia’s decision to attribute a recent arson attack to Russia.

“I express our full solidarity with Estonia, which has just attributed to Russia the responsibility for a fire targeting a defence sector company.

A few weeks ago, Germany did the same for a very serious incident at Leipzig airport.

The proliferation of these hostile acts reflects a dangerous escalation on the part of Russia, which will only lead it into a dead end.

Russia must know that it will not prevail over either our unity or our determination to continue supporting Ukraine.”

Estonia’s prime minister Kristen Michal does not seem to be convinced by Russia’s denials.

Minutes after we got a response from the Kremlin, he posted on X:

“The arson attack against Milrem Robotics was ordered by Russian special services.

This is part of Russia’s broader campaign across Europe to intimidate us and weaken our support for Ukraine. It will not work.

Our response will be the opposite: stronger security at home, more support for Ukraine and greater pressure on Russia.

We will not be intimidated.”

The Estonian government also published a handy summary of the case so far:

“The criminal investigation into the exact circumstances of the incident is continuing, but the preliminary information gathered so far in the criminal proceedings also indicates that the attack was commissioned. The suspects believed to have directly carried out the arson attack have been apprehended and taken into custody and no longer pose a threat.

On the night of 15 August, a fire broke out in a building used by defence industry company Milrem Robotics on Betooni Street in Tallinn’s Lasnamäe district. Emergency services responded immediately and the fire was quickly brought under control. No lives were in danger.

On 17 August, two Latvian citizens suspected of carrying out the arson attack were detained in Latvia. A third suspect was detained on 18 August. Searches of locations associated with the suspects in Latvia resulted in the seizure of numerous data storage devices and items that may have been used to set fire to the building.

On 17–18 September, Latvia handed over all three suspects to Estonia.”

Meanwhile, the Kremlin rejected what it called Estonia’s “baseless” accusation that Russia ordered an arson attack on an Estonian defence company in August (10:10).

“Such statements are baseless, ill-considered, have absolutely no relation to reality, and lack any form of reasoning. Consequently, we cannot and will not take such statements seriously,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters in response to an AFP question.

How could anyone ever think that Russia could do this, right? Right?

Rutte’s comments there are (perhaps not surprisingly) very much aligned with what Nato’s top commander Alexus Grynkewich told EU lawmakers last night.

In a rare appearance at the European parliament, Grynkewich warned that “the goal of the Russian activity right now is primarily to break our will to continue supporting Ukraine.”

As reported yesterday, he said:

“The logic of this is if we make the security situation seem dire enough, populations will want nations to withhold from Ukraine for their own protection. …

If there is a hybrid attack on your country, reinforcing the will to support Ukraine will show the Russians that their strategy isn’t working, and maybe have them back off that strategy.”

Top Nato figures appear to be focused on very publicly calling Russia’s tactics out in a bid to stop Moscow from succeeding and having any impact on social attitudes towards helping Ukraine – particularly ahead of 2027, with big elections coming up in France, Italy, Poland and Spain.

• Nato secretary general Mark Rutte has urged allies to keep calm and carry on supporting Ukraine, saying Russia is “failing to undermine” the alliance’s support for Kyiv despite growing number of sabotage, drone incidents against Nato (11:07).

• Rutte warned that Russia “continues its reckless campaign of hostile actions against Nato allies,” trying to “weaken our resolve and stop our support for Ukraine” (10:57).

• His comments came at a press conference with Lithuania’s prime minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius who warned that Russia’s actions are “becoming increasingly hostile and less restrained” (10:59).

• But Sinkevičius pushed back against recent warnings from Denmark, Poland and Germany about a potential imminent threat, saying there is no evidence of Russia “getting ready” (11:10).

Pushed a bit further on hybrid attacks, Rutte acknowledges they “are having an impact,” but repeats his point that Nato has “all the response options: sometimes visible, sometimes not.”

He also says it’s important to, whenever possible on the basis of available evidence, publicly attribute these incidents to Russia, as Estonia did today.

“I applaud it,” he says.

He says Nato is acting “in the spirit of staying calm, carrying on.”

“We are stronger and they know it.”

And that concludes the press conference.

Lithuania’s Sinkevičius says Russia “seeks to spread fear, to bring division … but it will not succeed.”

“We are not shaking [with fear]; we are doing what is meant to be done,” he says.

He says countries also do a lot of work in the background that is not publicly seen.

He says it’s important to be open about the challenges posed by Russia, but pushes back against “exaggerations” that something could happen within “upcoming months of weeks.”

“Is there any proof, real proof, that our intelligence services are providing … that Russia is getting ready or something? There is actually none,” he says, stressing “the risk remains,” but it’s not deemed to be escalating at the moment.

He adds “we have to … calmly do our work and we are doing that.”

Rutte gets asked about various recent sabotage actions against Nato allies, including the UK, Germany, and Lithuania.

Should we stop calling them hybrid threats and call them what they are, he is asked. And does he agree with warnings coming from several countries about “decisive weeks and months” ahead?

Rutte says he agrees with the criticism of the phrase “hybrid threat,” as “it sounds a bit cuddly,” and does not reflect the severity of the threat.

But he says the key thing is that Nato “has all the response options we need,” even if “you will not always see them publicly.”

He says allies do a lot to counter the Russian threat.

“I would urge some calm, because we are investing in our defence [and] Russia is not in a good place,” he says.

He adds allies should “carry on, keep the support for Ukraine going, because the best response to any action in this grey zone of what Russia is doing is more support for Ukraine.”

Rutte says “we should not be naive about Russia,” but adds “they know we are stronger and we have to make sure by carrying on with our investments that we are also stronger in two, three, five years from now.”

Sinkevičius is up next, as he thanks Rutte for today’s talks.

He warns that “the security [situation] in Europe is challenging,” as Russia’s actions are becoming increasingly hostile and less restrained.”

“We see the hybrid attacks: in Lithuania, Poland, Germany, elsewhere. And it’s not a question of proximity now; it’s a question of Russia’s actions.”

He says Lithuania leads the way in Nato as one of the top defence spenders, above 5% of GDP, and invites Rutte to a formal ceremony marking the permanent deployment of a German brigade to Lithuania in 2027.

Rutte continues saying that “Russia continues its reckless campaign of hostile actions against Nato allies.”

He says:

“[Russia] is trying to weaken our resolve and stop our support for Ukraine. But Russia is failing. It is failing on a battlefield in Ukraine, and it is failing to undermine our unity and support for Ukraine.

Our message to Moscow is clear: we will do even more for Ukraine and not less.”