Estonian citizen charged with treason over working for Russian propaganda

This was reported by the Estonian public broadcaster ERR.

At the meeting, the parties agreed that the court would start hearing the case on November 1.

In 1994, Burceva acquired Estonian citizenship through naturalization. Since 2017, she has worked for the Russian media conglomerate Rossiya Segodnya, covering public events in Estonia for various online publications, explained prosecutor Eneli Laurits.

According to the prosecutor, Burceva’s work was published in online news and other media texts serving the interests of Russian propaganda.

She emphasized that, even in the wake of the sanctions the Council of Europe imposed on Russia, Burceva continued working in the interests of Dmitry Kiselyov, the owner and true beneficiary of the Kremlin propaganda channel Rossiya Segodnya.

According to the indictment, despite being aware of the ban on such activities, Burceva continued sanctioned activities even after the Sputnik Estonia outlet ceased operations due to sanctions. From 2020 to 2023, Burceva continued producing media content for the Baltnews.ee portal, using the pseudonym Alan Torm.

"The pre-trial investigation by the Estonian Internal Security Service (ISS) concluded that Burceva could not be considered an independent, objective and neutral journalist. According to the ISS, the evidence suggests that Burceva worked as a propagandist for portals serving the Kremlin's aggressive goals, and her investigation revealed activities amounting to both international sanctions violations and treason," said the state prosecutor.

It was established that Burceva completed her master's studies at Sevastopol State University in the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine in 2019-2021, where she enrolled in a program on information and hybrid conflicts, supervised and directed by a former FBI counterintelligence officer and head of a private intelligence firm registered in Russia. The two-year master's program aims to train international media workers and analysts to be at the forefront of combating hybrid threats Russia faces, noted the prosecutor.

After completing her studies, Burceva co-authored a book with the program director titled "Hybrid War for the World" (under an alias LB Svet), which describes a global hybrid war Russia must win.

According to the State Prosecutor's Office, the evidence presented in the indictment shows that Burceva, being a citizen of Estonia, committed treason through non-violent actions against the independence and sovereignty of the Republic of Estonia.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, Svetlana Burceva, 57, had been in custody since early March over her cooperation with Russian government media.

Photo: Sergei Mihhailov/ERR