Off the wire
• Urgent: Gold up sharply on likely rate hike delay  • Roundup: Turkey set to go for early elections in Autumn amid violence  • News analysis: Refugee crisis cann't be simply solved by state of emergency  • Iraqi PM orders major cut in guards for officials in reform plan  • 2nd LD Writethru: Greek PM formally resigns, requesting snap general elections  • Anti-immigrant populists top Swedish opinion poll  • Zambia assures foreigners of safety  • Gulf Arab stocks fall on emerging markets woes  • Update: Israel attacks Syrian targets in response to rocket fire on northern communities  • Urgent: Greek PM announces resignation from office, Greece heads to snap general elections  
You are here: 　 Home

Moscow slams Western reaction over Russian court's sentences to Estonian officer

Xinhua, August 21, 2015 Adjust font size:

Western protests over a Russian court's decision which sentenced an Estonian citizen to 15 years in jail are attempts to politicize the purely criminal case, Russian Foreign Ministry said Thursday.

"We consider those loud declarations nothing but an attempt to openly politicize the criminal case," the ministry's spokesperson Maria Zakharova said in an online statement.

On Wednesday, a court in Russia's northwestern Pskov region sentenced Eston Kohver, an Estonian security officer, to 15 years in prison and a 100,000 ruble (about 1,500 U.S. dollars) fine on charges of espionage, arms smuggling and illegal border crossing.

According to Zakharova, the legitimacy of the court's ruling cannot be questioned.

Kohver was detained in September 2014 by the Russian Federal Security Service for allegedly carrying out an undercover operation on Russian territory, according to the Russian side.

Estonia insisted that Kohver was abducted to Russia at a border checkpoint on the Estonian side by Russian agents. Kohver himself also refused to plead guilty.

Both European Union (EU) and Estonia on Wednesday called on Moscow to immediately release Kohver and return him home. Endit