Estonia Knows How to Prosecute Treason
I will continue reporting the ways Estonia defends itself from Russian threats until people finally see pro-Russian agitators who pose as patriots in the West as criminal traitors to their countries
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I will never forget that moment on RadPod, when interviewing political philosopher Dr. Michael MacKay, when he said that America has a really hard time “dealing with actual treason.”
America’s failure to prosecute its domestic traitors is now the world’s problem, as criminals who should have been in prison are free to try to overthrow other democratic nations.
Paul Manafort was just in Albania.
Steve Bannon is taking aim at Ireland.
Donald Trump is taking aim at the whole of Europe by starting wars that benefit Putin, and back European leaders into a corner.
And the thing is, we’ve known this is treason for a decade.
Do you recall when an astute protestor, Ryan Clayton, threw Russian flags at Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump, yelling:
“Trump is treason! Trump is treason! Trump is treason! Why are we talking about tax cuts when we should be talking about treason! This president conspired with agents of the Russian government to steal an election! We should be talking about treason in Congress, not tax cuts!”—Ryan Clayton, Oct. 24, 2017
And Trump kept burying the truth under his minimizing mantra: “Russia! Russia! Russia!”
Even though, Bob Mueller told us different.
I understand that millions of Trump supporters want to be lied to — they want their biases confirmed, and they’d rather lose all their democratic privileges than admit their Orange King is a fraud.
As always, I look for solutions to America’s troubles, which are now the world’s troubles. And I find them always in Estonia, which knows how to prosecute treason.
Estonia has so many lessons for the US, but are we willing to listen?
Estonians know that not only is national security jeopardized when Russian propagandists enter the body politic, but their very democracy is at risk.
Unlike the UK, US, and EU, Estonia doesn’t dither with its pro-Russian politicians, spies, and operatives. It doesn’t give its pro-Russian agitators a pass.
While the UK does nothing to stop Tommy Robinson, Nigel Farage, Elon Musk, and JD Vance from stirring up a race war, Estonia counters Russian aggression through what it calls a “total defense” strategy, which includes massive military spending, strict border security to thwart hybrid threats, and closed borders to Russian tourists. Estonia spends about five percent of its GDP on defense, and goes all in on its support of Ukraine.
While France dithers about a pro-Russian media billionaire platforming an RT director, in 2025, an Estonian court sentenced a journalist with ties to Russian state media to six years in prison for treason. A Harju County District Court found that Svetlana Burceva collaborated with a reserve officer from Russia’s FSB security service in actions that threatened Estonia’s “independence and sovereignty.”
The Baltic country adopted a “zero tolerance for collaboration” policy, which means the state enforces strong anti-collaboration laws and indicts individuals — including financial backers — found to support Russian military forces and interests.
High Treason Convictions
In January, an Estonian court sentenced pro-Russian politicians to prison terms for high treason. One of the leaders of the pro-Russian party Koos, Aivo Peterson, was sentenced to 14 years in prison, while Dmitry Rootsi and Russian citizen Andrei Andronov received 11 years. Peterson and Rootsi were found guilty of high treason, while Andronov was convicted of participating in non-violent activities against Estonia.
According to DW Russian, “the court found it proven that Peterson and Rootsi maintained contact with Russian authorities, discussed political cooperation and the creation of a party capable of changing Estonia’s political course. This could have given Russia the opportunity to covertly influence Estonian politics in the future, the court decision states. In addition, Andrei Andronov was involved in organizing press tours to territories of Ukraine occupied by Russia, while Peterson participated in trips and the creation of propaganda materials aimed, in particular, at weakening support for Ukraine in Estonia.”
So, let’s unpack that a bit: Estonia prosecutes Russian subcontractors, because the country understands that they represent a threat not only to national security but its very ability to remain a sovereign nation.
This is important because in the US, we know that Elon Musk communicated with Vladimir Putin in the run up to the 2024 election. We also know that Musk communicated with the Russian agent tasked with running operations to infiltrate Western media. Musk himself operated as a Russian subcontractor in advance of the 2024 election, just as the Congressional representative, Anna Paulina Luna is doing, as she whitewashes Russian war crimes, something that in Estonia could earn her a prison sentence.
Recall how Trump invited Putin on American soil to whitewash his crimes, and then launched an illegal war, which benefits Putin in myriad ways, all this a direct challenge to what remains of international law.
Such acts of out and out treason could never have happened in a place like Estonia, because democracy’s heart is still healthy.
Estonia’s former prime minister, Kaja Kallas, is among the true leaders of the free world.
In addition to prosecuting pro-Russian politicians for treason and not allowing real estate transactions to occur through shell companies where the beneficial owner is unknown, which would have put Donald Trump out of business a long time ago, Estonia takes additional precautions to thwart Russia’s overthrow of its government.
Estonia, which shares a border with Russia, is actively pursuing legal and security measures against Russian nationals responsible for the war crimes in Ukraine, including lobbying for prosecution of Russian leaders for their crimes against humanity.
And rather than give members of the Duma tours like Rep. Luna, Estonia restricted entry for Russian citizens, particularly targeting ex-combatants, and is among the countries at the forefront of battling Russian active measures aimed at tearing apart the fabric of their democracy.
When Estonia stopped issuing visitor visas to Russian citizens in 2022, it helped Estonian security services focus on preventing a Fifth Column from growing inside their borders.
Estonia is among the dozens of countries that joined the ‘Enhanced Partial Agreement on the Management Committee of the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Russia’s Aggression against Ukraine,’ and remain constantly vigilant about Russian threats.
Currently, Russia is pushing propaganda about annexing the border city of Narva, duplicating its 2014 actions in the Donbas region of Ukraine.
According to multiple reports, Narva’s population is largely Russian speaking, making it vulnerable to Russian propaganda, worrying Estonians that “Moscow might succeed in weakening NATO by making the cost of protecting Estonia too high,” according to a report in News Line Magazine that calls Estonia the front line in the new Cold War.
As it pushes for a tribunal that could make rulings even in the absence of the accused, Estonia also took the additional step to ban the entry of 261 Russian nationals who fought in Ukraine, citing national security concerns.
Estonia’s Interior Minister Igor Taro explained that the banned individuals were hostile to Europe, with combat experience and military training, often criminal backgrounds, psychological damage, and that “the threat they pose is not theoretical.” He also warned of their potential ties to organized crime and possible cooperation with Russian security services.
Taro also said that those who committed violence in Ukraine “have no place in the free world.”
Because America did not deal with treason from within, the free world is shrinking, with 74% of the world’s population now living in an autocracy.
Estonia is very small, with a population about the size of San Antonio, Texas, but it knows how to fight these Russians.
They had a lot of practice — it was ground zero for Russian hybrid warfare, when in April and May 2007, Estonia became the target of a coordinated cyber attack. Over a three-week period, government, media, internet providers, banks, and businesses were targeted, predominantly by a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS).
It was retaliation for Estonia removing Soviet-era statues.
The attacks prompted the creation of the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Center of Excellence (CCDCOE) in May 2008.
Estonia is a NATO country, at a time when Trump is actively sabotaging NATO and Russia is hinting at annexing Narva.
There is very little time to prosecute these regimes for their crimes against humanity, and prevent the worst from happening.
Other European countries are putting up a fight against Russian aggression: Moldova beat the latest round of Russian interference with unity. It also helps that they convicted their version of Elon Musk — billionaire criminal election meddler, Ilan Shor — for fraud, forcing him to flee to Russia. Moldova even doubled his original sentence to 15 years, for good measure. Romania, too, managed to stop Russia’s TikTok candidate in its latest election. Perhaps enough Romanians still recall the brutality of Ceaușescu. Hungary finally ousted Viktor Orbán, and I do so hope Péter Magyar proves to be who he appears to be. Only time will tell.
In addition to the examples above, the Czech Resistance founded a unit of volunteers called Czech Elves, citizens with military training who monitor and analyze disinformation. They constantly measure the Czech infospace and report on disinformation campaigns.
In Georgia, people facing brutal treatment continue to protest against Russia every night for more than 500 days.
Democracies are supposed to defend their populations from threats, within and without, and instead, it fell on the shoulders of citizens and journalists, forced to do a job that was meant for the military.
For my part, I will keep pushing to grow a movement to get Trump and Putin and their allied thugs to The Hague, which becomes more real with each passing day, as dozens of countries have now signed on for the creation of a new Special Tribunal for Russian war crimes.
The prosecution of Rodrigo Duterte for the same types of crimes Trump committed in the Caribbean also offers a beam of hope. His trial in The Hague is set for November 30, 2026.
We don’t have to continue to be at the receiving end of all this treason if we don’t want to be.
Where are the leaders who will stand up to treason? Right now, they’re in Estonia, lighting the way.
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More info about Bette Dangerous - This magazine is written by Heidi Siegmund Cuda, an Emmy-award winning investigative reporter/producer, author, and veteran music and nightlife columnist. She is the cohost of RADICALIZED Truth Survives, an investigative show about disinformation and is part of the Byline Media team. Thank you for your support of independent investigative journalism.
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Thanks Heidi xx all over UK tv today is the preparation for the king's official birthday, Trooping the Colour xxx while this is a traditional spectacle, all i can see are the men in arms that could be and should be defending democracy from the very people that have stolen the wealth of the russian lands and bought London xx tx for all you all do xxx 👍🇬🇧💝💝💝💝
As a child growing up in the Fifties, I knew Russia was the enemy. To me, Putin has brought it all back, and they are the enemy again. It's certainly no secret t works for Putin. I truly wish California would secede. The magas are not true Americans, and I wish California wasn't supporting them with our federal tax dollars.