Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet said the captured counterintelligence official Eston Kohver's decision to waive hired lawyers means that objective information and Estonia's reactions to developments will no longer reach Kohver until a consul is again allowed to meet him.

Paet told ETV on September 17, that only Kohver knows the reason for declining the help of two high-profile lawyers hired by the Estonian state.

"We may use logic and evaluate what the reason could be and it derives from being surrounded mostly by the other side, by FSB or other Russian authorities for the past two weeks. He has met the Estonian side only twice, when the consul has been able to meet with him. The answer to the question lies in the environment, where he has been for close to two weeks,“ he said.

The Foreign Ministry only has a copy of his statement of waiving the legal help, Paet said, adding that objective information can now only reach him through a consul, and currently it is not clear when one is allowed to meet Kohver again.

He said the case will now receive less international attention as the two high-profile lawyers Estonia hired would have kept the story in the media. Estonia will continue to keep international interest and pressure high.

Speaking about the meeting of Estonian and Russian border guards, which ended without a confirmation of events by the Russian side, Paet said it shows that Russian border guards were not informed about the mission to capture Kohver, and were only later notified.

ERR News