KaPo has gone on public record to state that Dressen was ‘turned' by the FSB who pressed on Dressen's career disappointment, financial gain and personal ambition buttons for agreement to co-operate. It was also pointed out the FSB threatened to expose his failure to report an earlier approach and offer that the Russian agency had made to him.
It's interesting to note what a Russian recruiter's expectations of success are in ‘turning' Estonian versus non-Estonian candidates. Does an FSB operative assume there's a better chance of winning over a person of ethnic Russian origin as opposed to one of Estonian background?
Ethnic, religious, racial or any other bias cannot enter the process. Since the security services of all three Baltic states have claimed that FSB activity, especially in recruitment attempts, in the three countries is intense, knowing who are more likely to be targeted would be valuable in counter-intelligence efforts. It's also known that most recruitment attempts fail.
However, in a democracy, basic civil and human rights principles demand that equality before the law and equality in pursuing opportunity are enforced throughout, even in the most sensitive situations.
It would be worthwhile to remind ourselves of the Aleksei Dressen situation. It's known that in 2001, Dressen, whose career with KaPo started in 1993, finally gave his agreement to work for the Russian special services. But it took a full three years for Dressen to completely give assent. This indicated the patience, the thorough preparation and the experience to seize the right moment that helped the Russian recruiter.
In February of 2012 Dressen and his wife Viktoria, apparently his courier, were arrested for alleged treason, for passing confidential information on for years to the FSB. In July Dressen was sentenced to 16 years and his wife to 6 years conditionally. During the court proceedings it was revealed that in 2002 he was demoted from a departmental chief's position for questionable practices with operational funds. He was also demoted for submitting an inadequate risk assessment prior to the Bronze Night riots in 2007. (It was the relocation of a Soviet war memorial from downtown Tallinn to a military cemetery that prompted riots, mainly by Russian youth. The riots were deemed to have been organized, not totally spontaneous.)
It's said that KaPo suspected Dressen to have been working for Russia for five years, but it was difficult to accumulate air-tight evidence for a prosecution. It's therefore assumed that since 2007 some officials knew of his duplicity and thus the damage done by Dressen were minimal. One can even surmise that Dressen was deliberately fed with mis-information that KaPo wanted the Russians to have.
But the question still remains why KaPo didn't dismiss Dressen after serious acts of neglect/misconduct? KaPo needed to prevent the possible retribution of a bitter and disappointed man.
If willingness to support the defence of Estonia militarily is any indication of loyalty to the Republic then a 2013 study is an indirect indicator that Russians are not any less loyal than Estonians. The survey indicates that 83% of non-Estonian respondents support defending Estonia with military weapons. This is a telling comparison with ethnic Estonians of whom 78% answered similarly. (In Finland a similar survey indicated support for military defence to be at 76%.)
Experts warn that long-term deeply rooted trends cannot be based just on the latest poll. But if after a few years the results to similar surveys remain constant one may be able to assume the existence of basic values related to loyalty, respect for the ‘Estonian way' etc.
In 2001 the Federation of Russian Organizations officially declared its adherence to and support of Estonian law. It publicly rejected any form of radicalism or extremism.
While the above is no reliable indicator of the lack of an individual's proclivity to ‘work for the other side' because of ethnic affinity, it does however suggest a prevailing social more that loyalty to a country is based on a more complicated set of criteria than simply ethnic heritage. One is always reminded that an Estonian, Herman Simm, was a more highly placed traitor who did significantly more harm than Dressen, with Russian roots, who in fact was born in Latvia. (To be continued.)
Laas Leivat
