Estonia to prosecute Russian with Estonian citizenship for treason for spreading Russian propaganda

A Russian woman with Estonian citizenship, who promoted Russia’s propagandist messages for years, has officially been accused of violating the sanctions and of treason.

According to ERR, the Prosecutor’s Office of Estonia accused Svetlana Burtseva, Estonian citizen, of violating international sanctions and committing treason. On 6 August, a preliminary court hearing in her case was held, after which it was announced that the consideration of the case would commence on 1 November.

Burtseva became an Estonian citizen in 1994 through naturalisation. Since 2017 she worked within the Rossiya segodnya (Russia Today) Russian media-group for different Estonian Internet outlets.

"Her texts, some of them under pen names, were published in Internet news outlets which serve the interests of Russian propaganda. Even after the sanctions against Russia were implemented by the Council of the European Union, Burtseva kept working for the real beneficiary of Rossiya segodnya Dmitri Kiselev," – Eneli Laurits, Prosecutor General of Estonia revealed.

On the grounds of collected evidence, the Estonian Prosecutors Office believes that Svetlana Burtseva consciously violated the sanctions.

"Following the results of the pre-trial investigation, the Security Police concluded that Burtseva cannot be considered an independent, objective and neutral journalist. The evidence shows that Burtseva is a propagandist and worked for the portals which serve aggressive goals of the Kremlin. In addition to the violation of the sanctions, the investigation into her activity also uncovered a crime against the state," – Laurits said.

Among other things, it was revealed that in 2019-2021 Burtseva studied for a master’s degree in the occupied city of Sevastopol in Crimea, focusing on information and hybrid conflicts, the faculty that was reportedly led by a former FSB officer.

Following these studies, Burtseva, jointly with her curator, published a book Hybrid War for Peace, offering her analysis of how Russia could win such a global war.

This book was promoted in Estonia as a book by an Estonian political scientist, the name of whom turned out to be Burtseva’s pen name. "The content of the book humiliates the Estonian Republic and aims for a split in Estonian society, discrediting Estonia and its institutions," Laurits noted.

Svitlana Burtseva is also accused of treason which she committed through non-violent actions against the independence and autonomy of the Estonian Republic.

Burtseva has been under arrest since 1 March. The defence team submitted a request to change her current restriction measure to house arrest with electronic surveillance, but the Prosecutor’s Office denied, arguing that Burtseva would try to flee to Russia.

This summer, a criminal persecution of a former European official, who fled to Russia, was initiated.