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Moscow court extends custody term for Estonian national suspected of espionage

An officer from the Estonian Interior Ministry’s security police department was detained in Russia’s north-western Pskov region on September 5, 2014 for allegedly carrying out an undercover operation

© ITAR-TASS/Yuri Smityuk

MOSCOW, April 2. /TASS/. The Lefortovo Court of Moscow has ruled to extend the custody term for Estonian national Eston Kohver, detained in Russia last September on espionage charges, until June 5, a spokeswoman for the court said on Thursday.

"The court upheld a motion from the investigation to extend the custody term for Kohver for two more months until June 5, 2015," the spokeswoman said.

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Kohver, an officer from the Estonian Interior Ministry’s security police department, was detained in Russia’s north-western Pskov region on September 5, 2014 for allegedly carrying out an undercover operation on the territory of Russia.

The Russian Federal Security Service reported at that time that a handgun, €5,000 in cash, special covert audio recording equipment and materials indicative of a spying mission were confiscated from Kohver, when he was apprehended.

Estonian authorities insist that Kohver was abducted by Russian law enforcers on the territory of Estonia and then was transferred across the borderline into Russia’s Pskov Region.

Less than a week ago Russia withdrew from its extradition agreement with Estonia. On March 27, Russian President Vladimir Putin instructed the country’s Foreign Ministry to inform Estonia about Moscow’s withdrawal from the bilateral extradition agreement.

Russia and Estonia signed the agreement on the extradition of persons sentenced to prison terms for further serving sentences in a country of their citizenship on November 5, 2002 in Tallinn. The agreement used to regulate Russian-Estonian relations in sphere at the issue and served for the protection of the rights and legal interests of Russian and Estonian nationals.

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