A leading Estonian marine expert with top security clearance was sentenced to three years in jail after pleading guilty to spying for Beijing. Tarmo Kõuts, 57, was arrested in September last year and has admitted to conducting espionage for a foreign state—charges that stop short of treason. He is the Estonian linked to Chinese espionage since the Baltic country broke from the Soviet Union in 1991. Kõuts was first recruited by Chinese military intelligence in 2018, according to Aleksander Toots, the deputy director of Estonia’s counterintelligence agency, Internal Security Service. Kõuts was motivated by “traditional human weaknesses” such as money, Toots told Delfi, a major Estonian outlet. The prosecutors confirmed that Kõuts had profited €17,000 (about $20,296) from the scheme, which they had confiscated from him. A woman who allegedly acted as an accomplice was arrested on the same day as Kõuts and is yet to face trial in court. …
-
Recent Posts
-
Archives
- May 2025
- April 2025
- July 2023
- June 2023
- May 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- September 2013
- July 2013
- March 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- December 1
-
Meta