Brussels, 12/09/2014 (Agence Europe) - During the evening of Thursday 11 September, the European Union called for the release of Estonian police officer Eston Kohver and for his safe return to Estonia. According to the spokesperson for High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton, Kohver was abducted on 5 September “by the Russian Security Services on Estonian territory near the Estonian-Russian border”. “Such action by the Russian Federation runs against international law and the principle of inviolability of borders”, Ashton's spokesperson stated in a press release. The spokesperson said that the EU delegation in Moscow has been in contact with the Russian authorities asking for a “swift solution” to the matter.
Kohver is accused by the Russian authorities of spying and is currently in a temporary Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) detention centre in Moscow. According to the FSB, he was arrested in the north west of Russia, close to the Estonian border, when he was trying to carry out an intelligence operation. According to the Estonian public prosecutor, he was captured by unknown people who had come from Russia when he was working on Estonian territory. (CG)