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| Russia Sentences Estonian to 15 Years in Disputed Spy Case | Russia Sentences Estonian to 15 Years in Disputed Spy Case |
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| MOSCOW — A Russian court convicted an Estonian security police officer of espionage on Wednesday and sentenced him to 15 years of hard labor in a case highlighting tensions between Russia and its Baltic neighbors, which have escalated along with the conflict in Ukraine. | |
| Since the officer, Eston Kohver, was detained last year, Estonia has said he was lured into a trap and kidnapped on Estonian territory. Russian officials insist that he was caught in Russia. He was found guilty of spying, arms smuggling and violating border regulations. | Since the officer, Eston Kohver, was detained last year, Estonia has said he was lured into a trap and kidnapped on Estonian territory. Russian officials insist that he was caught in Russia. He was found guilty of spying, arms smuggling and violating border regulations. |
| The verdict against Mr. Kohver, an officer of Estonia’s Internal Security Service, was handed down by the Regional Court in Pskov, a city in western Russia near the Estonian border. His trial was closed to reporters, though they were allowed in the courtroom for the verdict. | |
| Official Russian and Estonian accounts of how Mr. Kohver ended up in custody vary widely. According to Estonia, he was arrested Sept. 5 in a thicket of pine trees near a rural border crossing between Luhamaa, in southeast Estonia, and the Pskov region. Estonia said he was seized by armed agents of Russia’s Federal Security Service, or F.S.B., in an illegal operation on Estonian territory, and pointed out that Mr. Kohver’s agency is responsible for domestic intelligence only and has no mandate to operate outside the country. The F.S.B. said Mr. Kohver was arrested on Russian territory when the agency intercepted an Estonian intelligence operation in the border zone. A Russian television report displayed what the F.S.B. said in a statement were found on him: 5,000 euros, a Taurus pistol and bullets, “special technical equipment for carrying out concealed audio recording, and likewise materials that have the character of an espionage assignment.” | |
| The conviction and sentencing were widely condemned by Estonia and Western governments and leaders. | The conviction and sentencing were widely condemned by Estonia and Western governments and leaders. |
| Federica Mogherini, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, said in a statement that Mr. Kohver’s “abduction and subsequent illegal detention in Russia” constituted a “clear violation of international law.” | |
| A United States State Department spokesman, John Kirby, said in a statement that Mr. Kohver’s abduction, detention and conviction “demonstrates a flagrant disregard by Russian authorities for the rule of law, and raises serious questions about Russia’s compliance with its international legal obligations.” | A United States State Department spokesman, John Kirby, said in a statement that Mr. Kohver’s abduction, detention and conviction “demonstrates a flagrant disregard by Russian authorities for the rule of law, and raises serious questions about Russia’s compliance with its international legal obligations.” |
| In a Twitter post, the Estonian president, Toomas Hendrik Ilves, said, “Eston Kohver means a real lot about where we are today.” After Mr. Kohver’s arrest, Mr. Ilves said the episode “recalled the kind of behavior we noticed on our borders before World War II,” when Soviet troops killed three Latvian border guards before the Soviet Union invaded. | In a Twitter post, the Estonian president, Toomas Hendrik Ilves, said, “Eston Kohver means a real lot about where we are today.” After Mr. Kohver’s arrest, Mr. Ilves said the episode “recalled the kind of behavior we noticed on our borders before World War II,” when Soviet troops killed three Latvian border guards before the Soviet Union invaded. |
| Taavi Roivas, Estonia’s prime minister, said in a statement that the case “has been illegitimate since the beginning” and was staged to reach “a verdict suitable for the Russian authorities.” | Taavi Roivas, Estonia’s prime minister, said in a statement that the case “has been illegitimate since the beginning” and was staged to reach “a verdict suitable for the Russian authorities.” |
| Also on Wednesday, prosecutors asked a court in Rostov-on-Don, in southern Russia, to find Oleg Sentsov, a filmmaker from Crimea, guilty of terrorism charges and sentence him to 23 years of hard labor, news agencies reported. He is accused of being a Ukrainian nationalist and of carrying out anti-Russian terrorist acts, including plans to blow up a monument to Lenin in Simferopol, the capital of Crimea, last year. | |
| The judge overseeing the trial, which also has been closed to the news media, is expected to issue a ruling on Tuesday. European filmmakers, including Agnieszka Holland, Mike Leigh and Wim Wenders, appealed to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and other officials this week to release Mr. Sentsov. | |