Estonia Shows How to Resist
Continuing to update all 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 recently learned two numbers: according to Cloudflare data, bots account for more web traffic than humans for “the first time in the internet’s history” — representing about “57 percent of all http requests as of late April 2026.”
The other number I recently learned: only one to three percent of any population participated in Resistance efforts in World War II. But a Harvard researcher determined that once a Resistance effort engages 3.5 percent of the population, that’s the threshold when non-violent campaigns can achieve their goals.
I start this post with those two numbers, because as we navigate the online world, we need to train ourselves to avoid self-cyborgization — don’t waste time tilting at anonymous windbags online. And don’t lose faith in Resistance efforts. I am shocked that such a small portion of the population has the courage to resist obvious fascist capture, but as it turns out, it takes fewer people than we think.
I often reflect on a lesson from author Anne Nelson, who wrote a book about the Berlin Resistance in the 1930s, Red Orchestra: The Story of the Berlin Underground and the Circle of Friends Who Resisted Hitler.
In an interview with Anne, she quoted a member of the Berlin Resistance against Hitler, Greta Kuckhoff, who said:
“We did what we could, and a lot of us gave our lives for it. And if there had only been a couple 100,000 more Germans out of our millions who did the same, we could have stopped Hitler, it wouldn’t have taken that much more.”
That has always stuck with me.
“A couple 100,000 more.”
How many of us can educate and recruit a couple dozen more people to understand the influence operations blanketing the democratic world and to then fight hard in defense of democracy and human rights? How quickly we could get to a couple 100,000 more until it multiplied into millions, and we reached that 3.5 percent rule.
And so, I keep returning to Estonia, where I document the myriad ways it kneecaps Russian sub-threshold aggression to infiltrate and topple its democracy.
Look at this headline for example:
Estonia prosecutes its traitors with a deftness that should be a blueprint for the remaining democratic nations.
Estonia has strong human rights and free speech, but it also has a backbone — if someone is working for Russian interests, they don’t waffle. They prosecute. And they keep updating their defense, now targeting religious charlatans and working to defund an Olympics committee weakening its stance on Russia.
In my first report, I documented the many lessons Estonia offers for US Resistance efforts:
In that report, I wrote:
Estonians know that not only is national security jeopardized when Russian propagandists enter the body politic, but their very democracy is at risk…
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…
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.
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.
In addition, 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.
So in my previous reports, I identified the many ways Estonia prosecutes treason and thwarts Russian aggression, including my report on Estonia’s prosecution of a pro-Kremlin blogger.
I wrote:
In November 2025, Estonian authorities prosecuted and detained pro-Kremlin blogger and propagandist Oleg Besedin.
“Detained by the Estonian Internal Security Service (KAPO), Besedin is accused of engaging in activities against the Estonian state, cooperating with Russian intelligence services, participating in information influence operations, and violating international sanctions,” according to a United 24 report. The charges include: non-violent actions directed against the Republic of Estonia — a state crime harming independence and sovereignty and the violation of international sanctions. Investigators said he “operated as a Russian propagandist, repeatedly distributed content from EU-sanctioned Russian media outlets, and cooperated with Russian intelligence starting in 2022.” His trial is set to begin September 15, 2026.
All of the above is pretty impressive, but in recent days, Estonia has taken two more important steps.
Hard Line In Sand Against KGB’s Patriarch Kirill
Estonia just gave the Russian Orthodox Church six months to sever all its ties with Patriarch Kirill, a KGB spy and Putin crony who sits atop Russia’s church, which is widely documented for its radicalization operations.
According to a statement from the Ministry of the Interior, the Estonian Christian Orthodox Church, which is affiliated with the Moscow Patriarchate, has six months to appoint a new metropolitan and cut ties with Patriarch Kirill.
Citing the enforcement of “amendments to the Churches and Congregations Act,” the changes prohibit “religious associations in Estonia from being affiliated with a religious leader based in a foreign country that poses a threat to Estonia’s national security.”
And according to a letter from Tarmo Miilits, secretary general of the Ministry of the Interior, “all religious associations have…until December 28, to bring their activities into compliance with the new requirements. Otherwise, the minister of the interior may initiate proceedings to forcibly dissolve the religious association.”
Metropolitan Eugene, a church leader whose real name is Valeri Reshetnikov, was already required to leave Estonia at the beginning of 2024 after the Estonian Internal Security Service (ISS) determined he presented a threat to Estonia’s national security.
I am inspired by Estonian ISS, which is willing to play hardball when very few intelligence agencies in democratic countries appear to have any remaining spine.
The Russian Orthodox Church functions like just another arm of the KGB, an unremarkable fact to anyone who pays attention to how Russia weaponizes everything,
Estonia Seeks to Defund the International Olympic Committee
In addition to its hard line in the sand over the Russian Orthodox Church leadership, Estonia is turning its attention to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), calling for a ban on the IOC receiving funding from the European Union. Estonia is seeking the ban due to the IOC executive board’s recent decision at a meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland, to lift the suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee.
That move prompted Estonia to demand all sports organizations permitting Russia and Belarus to return to international competition to have their EU funding cut.
A press release from Estonia’s Culture Minister, Heidy Purga, reads:
“In the current security situation, it is impossible to understand decisions which seek to bring aggressor states back into international sport as if nothing had happened… At a time when the war in Ukraine goes on and people are suffering, we cannot allow sport to be used to normalize this situation. Sport is not values-neutral – it always carries a message. The question is whether we stand by our principles, or surrender them. Europe must be clear and united on this: Our support must not reach organizations whose decisions conflict with our values, and our responsibility toward Ukraine.”
Estonia’s leaders understand how this works, and they were joined by Denmark, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania and Sweden in their appeal.
I am often writing about moral clarity, we have examples from history of collaborators who were executed.
Billionaire and hedge-fund media will continue to try to run interference on moral clarity. They are collaborators, and we should call them that.
In 2026, Estonia ranked third out of 180 countries in the World Press Freedom Index, published by Reporters Without Borders. It has been as high as second, with Norway in the lead.
The US ranked 64, between Botswana and Panama.
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