Tag: estonia

The country that inspired Keir Starmer’s digital ID card fiasco: Labour’s blueprint for Britain is a ‘goldmine for hackers and scammers to steal your money’

Estonia’s digital identity system has been beset by blunders and security issues that  allow hackers to steal data and help scammers take money, we can reveal.

The digital ID system used by 1.4million people in the Baltic state country is said to be the blueprint for Keir Starmer‘s so-called Brit Card. 

Digital ID cards showing a resident’s picture, name, unique number and date of birth, and including a microchip storing more personal information, have been used in the former Soviet republic for more than 20 years.

Estonians can hold their cards in e-wallets on mobile phones and use them to vote, check on bank accounts, e-sign contracts and invoices, file tax returns, claim benefits, book medical appointments, access health records, shop online, and even collect supermarket loyalty points.

But the much-praised scheme in Estonia has suffered security lapses that have allowed fraudsters to bypass encryption systems to con victims out of their savings and leak the names and photographs of citizens.

The Daily Mail can reveal that users have also repeatedly fallen victim to phishing emails and calls from scammers who have persuaded them to disclose PIN numbers for their cards and stolen cash from their bank accounts in a grim warning of what could happen in the UK.

Official figures reveal that citizens of so-called ‘E-Stonia’ lost more than 7million euros to fraud last year with 837 ‘significant’ incidents recorded, up from 546 in 2023, although the true figure is thought to be much higher due to many cases being unreported.

Reports suggest that the amount lost to fraud in Estonia has soared since last year with a total of 7.5million euros lost in the first six months this year.

A large number of the cases reported by Estonia’s Police and Border Guard are thought to involve personal information from ID cards being stolen due to people being tricked into revealing PIN codes.

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Estonia says UN Security Council to meet after 3 Russian fighter jets entered country’s airspace

Estonia said Sunday that the United Nations Security Council is going to meet after three Russian fighter jets flew into Estonian airspace late this week.

“In response to Russia’s blatant, reckless, and flagrant violation of @NATO airspace over Estonia on Friday—when armed MiG-31 fighter jets intruded into our territory for 12 minutes—the @UN Security Council will convene tomorrow, September 22, to address this breach of territorial integrity and the violation of the prohibition on the threat or use of force,” the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on the social platform X early Sunday morning.

Last Friday, three Russian fighter jets entered Estonian airspace, with the country’s top diplomat calling the incident an “unprecedented and brazen intrusion.”

Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal asked for NATO Article 4 consultations later Friday. Article 4 lets NATO members raise all issues threatening that country’s territorial integrity or political independence or security to fellow members.

“This morning, 3 Russian Mig-31 fighter jets entered Estonian airspace. NATO fighters responded and the Russian planes were forced to flee. Such violation is totally unacceptable. The Government of Estonia has decided to request NATO Article 4 consultations,” Michal said on X previously.

In its Sunday post, the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that “Russia’s reckless and aggressive actions, and its repeated violations of international law and the principles of the UN Charter, require a strong and united international response.”

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Several Russian Jets Breach Airspace Of NATO-Member Estonia

NATO member Estonia (since 2004) has fiercely condemned what it says is a “brazen” incident where Russian warplanes violated its airspace over the Gulf of Finland on Friday.

The Estonian foreign ministry described that three Russian MiG-31 fighter jets “entered Estonian airspace without permission and remained there for a total of 12 minutes.”

The ministry quickly summoned Russian chargé d’affaires “to lodge a protest” – and simultaneously EU diplomat Kaja Kallas, who hails from the Baltic country and was the first female prime minister, blasted the incursion as “an extremely dangerous provocation”.

Foreign Minister Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna went further to call it “unprecedentedly brazen” saying that–

“Russia’s increasingly extensive testing of boundaries and growing aggressiveness must be met with a swift increase in political and economic pressure.”

Reports in Estonian media claim that the jets turned off their transponders and ‘went dark’ during the incident, so as to not be tracked easily on radar.

This apparently isn’t a first, as Russia has allegedly violated Estonia’s airspace four times in 2025. Moscow likely isn’t too ‘concerned’ over moments its military might breach the airspace of this tiny former Soviet satellite state in the Baltics.

But European leaders are using these increasing instances to push for an ‘eastern flank’ aerial defense shield protecting NATO.

Just last week the two largest eastern members of NATO said that Russian drones breached their airspace.

The Polish instance was the most serious, given Warsaw accused Russia of intentionally sending a ‘wave’ of drones – up to 19 – which resulted in its military urgently scrambling jets to track them.

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The UK Aims To Entrench Its Influence In Estonia In Order To Lead The Arctic-Baltic Front

The possible deployment of nuclear-capable F-35As there, which could be equipped with US air-to-ground nukes since the UK no longer has its own, would give London a leading role in managing the joint Arctic-Baltic front against Russia that’s expected to remain even after the Ukrainian Conflict ends…

Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur told the Postimees newspaper after last month’s NATO Summit that his country is interested in hosting nuclear-capable F-35As from its allies, with the outlet suggesting that the UK could deploy some of the 12 that it plans to purchase after they’re transferred. The UK’s other announcement that it’ll join NATO’s dual-capable nuclear aircraft mission raises the chance that these jets could be equipped with US nukes since the UK no longer has its own air-to-ground ones.

The Wall Street Journal explained how “U.K. Shifts Nuclear Doctrine With Purchase of U.S. Jets”, which could lead to it obtaining the aforesaid nukes from the US, while Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declared that Estonia’s readiness to host nuclear-capable jets from any NATO country poses an “immediate danger” to Russia. All this follows Russia’s Foreign Spy Service warning in mid-June that the Brits and Ukrainians are cooking up two false flag provocations in the Baltic to rope Trump into the war.

Seeing as how it was assessed in late April that “Estonia Might Become Europe’s Next Trouble Spot”, it’s therefore likely that they’ll let the UK deploy nuclear-capable F-35As at Tapa Army Base, where it already has some troops as part of its largest overseas deployment. Putting everything together, it can therefore be concluded that the UK is actively expanding its sphere of influence in the Baltic on anti-Russian pretexts and via associated means, with Estonia playing a leading role by hosting its regional forces.

The Baltic front of the New Cold War is connected to the Arctic one due to Finland joining the alliance in 2023 and Russia responding by building up its forces along their border to deter NATO-emanating threats from there. This joint front, which is expected to remain tense even after the Ukrainian Conflict ends, will also see the construction of the “EU Defense Line” that’ll stretch along Finland’s, the Baltic States’, and Poland’s eastern borders with Russia and Belarus as a 21st-century Iron Curtain.

It’s within this context that Trump reportedly plans to pull some US troops out of Central & Eastern Europe (CEE), perhaps in exchange for Russia reducing its own presence in Belarus (possibly including its tactical nukes), as part of their plans to build a new European security architecture. Be that as it may, the “EU Defense Line” – which includes new border fortifications and the deployment of extra-regional countries’ forces like the UK’s and Germany’s – ensures that the EU-Russian security dilemma will persist.

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Estonia Might Become Europe’s Next Trouble Spot

The latest socio-political and security developments suggest that it relishes being a frontline state…

Estonia catapulted back into international news after it recently seized an alleged vessel from Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet”, to which Russia had a restrained reaction for the pragmatic reasons explained here, but it’s also been stirring up trouble with Russia in other ways too. The aforementioned provocation coincides with the passing of a law allowing Estonia to sink foreign vessels that it deems to pose a national security threat. It’s possible that this could be the next planned regional escalation.

On the security front, Estonia also reportedly wants to deploy some of its troops to Ukraine as part of a peacekeeping mission jointly led by France and the UK. Moreover, there’s always the chance that the UK decides to transform its rotational ~1,000-troop military presence in Estonia into a permanent fixture. That would make it the third NATO member to do so in the region after the US (in Poland and Romania) and Germany (in Lithuania). This could be sold as a hedge against the US withdrawing some of its troops.

Estonia’s internal situation is also becoming increasingly tense as a result of three interconnected developments.

The first concerns the latest law denying local voting rights to foreigners, which includes some of those 22.5% of Russians living in the country who don’t meet the post-independence criteria for citizenship and are thus legally classified as “stateless persons”.

For background, Estonia considers them to be the descendants of “Soviet occupiers”, which is the basis upon which it’s restricted their rights.

Expanding upon the last point about historical perception, Estonia is also ramping up its long-running campaign of dismantling Soviet-era World War II monuments, which the state regards symbols of Soviet occupation. 

Russia, however, believes that this move amounts to historical revisionism. In connection with that, readers should be aware that Russia has consistently accused Estonia of glorifying Nazi collaborators, with the most blatant example thereof being the annual marches in honor of the SS.

As if these moves weren’t provocative enough, Estonia just passed a law requiring the Estonian Chrisitan Orthodox Church to sever its canonical ties with the Russian Orthodox Church. 

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NORD STREAM 2.0? FINLAND-ESTONIA UNDERSEA PIPELINE IN BALTIC “HAS BEEN DELIBERATELY DAMAGED”

Months after famed journalist and Pulitzer Prize winner Seymour Hersh revealed the US blew up the Russia-to-Germany natural gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea in September 2022 during a covert operation under the guise of the BALTOPS 22 NATO exercise, yet another undersea gas pipeline, this time, connecting Finland and Estonia has allegedly come under attack.

Gasgrid Finland and Elering, the Finnish and Estonian gas system operators, detected an “unusual” leak in the 77-kilometer (48-mile) interconnector in the early morning hours on Sunday.

“Based on observations, it was suspected that the offshore pipeline between Finland and Estonia was leaking,” Gasgrid Finland said in a statement. “The valves in the offshore pipeline are now closed and the leak is thus stopped.”

ERR News reported that the Estonian Navy started surveying the pipeline with its equipment on Monday, while the Finnish Security and Intelligence Service will also be involved in the investigation.

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