Estonia vehemently denies spying allegations made by U.S. magazine

Estonian officials on Thursday vehemently denied allegations made in a publication in U.S. magazine Newsweek that Estonian might have been spying on its allies.

"Let me repeat -- no, Estonia is not spying on its allies," Estonian Prime Minister Juri Ratas told the press. A Newsweek report alleged that "a Baltic nation is gathering intelligence on officials in the Trump White House and executives with the president's company, the Trump Organization."

According to the article carried on Wednesday, an unnamed Baltic country had been spying on the United States "out of concern that U.S. policy shift toward Russia could endanger its sovereignty."

Ratas emphasized that the "report was completely untrue" and that he had checked the facts with heads of Estonian intelligence services so that he could be 100 percent sure of his words.

Estonian Interior Minister Andres Anvelt said that he, too, had raised the issue with the chief of the Estonian Internal Security Service who assured him that Estonia has not been gathering intelligence on its allies.

Marko Mikhelson, chairman of the Estonian parliament foreign affairs committee, said earlier on Thursday that the allegations looked like deliberate disinformation. Enditem