Introduction
On 26th March 2025, the Estonian parliament overwhelmingly adopted a constitutional amendment banning Russian citizens and other non-EU nationals from voting in local elections, citing security concerns related to Moscow’s war in Ukraine. The measure, which was supported by 93 of the 101 MPs, would disenfranchise almost 80,000 Russian residents and allow around 60,000 stateless people to vote one last time in October before the restrictions come into force. Prime Minister Kristen Michal welcomed the decision as protection against foreign influence, stating that “decisions in our local life won’t be made by the citizens of aggressor states.”
In May, Estonian authorities made public an alleged plot in which local pro-Russian politicians allegedly collaborated with Russia’s GRU military intelligence to form a paramilitary unit intended to topple the government. The operation, reportedly initiated in 2022 by Aivo Peterson, leader of the pro-Kremlin Russian minority party Koos, sought to structure a civil defence force mirroring the Estonian military. Prosecutors say Peterson publicly presented the unit as a charitable organisation while secretly aiming to create a nationwide network to assume security and defence duties in the event of a power vacuum. Details of this plot emerged during Peterson’s ongoing trial on treason charges. Peterson was arrested in 2023 along with several others from his party by the Estonian Internal Security Service (ISS) on suspicion of collaborating with Russian authorities to undermine Estonia’s sovereignty. The public prosecutor's office is demanding a sentence of 17 years in prison.
Freedom of association
Civil society warns of negative impact of funding cuts
In the European Civic Forum’s 2025 Civic Space Report for Estonia, civil society actors identified budget cuts and funding uncertainty as one of the main trends impacting civic space, with initial signs of significant budget cuts in 2024 and further cuts expected in 2025. These cuts have already led to a reduction in funding for civil society organisations (CSOs) and public sector bodies involved in civic engagement and open governance. However, the report notes civil society has proven resilient and, despite increasing financial and institutional pressures, has worked to close gaps in transparency and advocate for stronger frameworks for civic engagement.
According to the report, the uneven application of budget cuts has caused particular difficulties. In an open letter to the authorities signed by representatives of over 30 Estonian youth organisations, the signatories expressed their deep concern at the fact that the youth sector had been hit hardest by the funding cuts, as funding for young people and youth organisations had been cut by more than a third compared to the previous year.
Beyond direct reductions, civil society reports that the general uncertainty surrounding public funding has had serious consequences. Many CSOs report not knowing when funding rounds will be announced, how much will be available, or under what conditions. Even strategic partners with multi-year agreements have reported poor communication from ministries, complicating planning and undermining organisational stability.
Another issue raised in the report as a threat to the sustainability of civil society is the politicisation of funding. Donations to civil society organisations are occasionally mentioned in political rhetoric, and although the accusation of insufficient transparency is repeatedly raised, the government has taken few steps to address this problem. Instead, civil society itself has stepped in to improve accountability. The Network of Estonian Nonprofit Organisations (NENO) has created a public database on civil society funding, based on open government data, enabling citizens to see which organisations are supported by different state institutions and in what amounts.
Cuts have also targeted the institutional capacity of the state to support civic engagement. According to the report, the Ministry of the Interior, responsible for civil society development, has halved its staff dedicated to this field, with a broader trend across ministries showing similar reductions in positions related to civic engagement, public information, and open governance. Civil society has warned that this downsizing risks weakening cooperation between the state and civil society at a time when such collaboration is most needed.
President refuses to enact foreign influence bill aimed at religious organisations
On 9th April 2025, Estonia’s Riigikogu passed the second reading of a controversial bill tightening oversight of religious organisations. It had previously passed the first reading on 19th February, despite opposition from MPs from conservative parties including the Estonian Centre Party (EK) and the Conservative People's Party of Estonia (EKRE).
Citing national security concerns, the draft law is aimed at prohibiting religious organisations from being directed or financed by foreign entities deemed a threat. If passed, it would require the Estonian Christian Orthodox Church to sever ties with the Moscow Patriarchate, deemed a security threat due to its support for Russia’s aggression in Ukraine. It would also bar individuals convicted of crimes or banned from residing in Estonia from serving as clergy, and churches would be obligated to bring their statutes into line with the new rules within two months of enactment.
However, on 24th April, President Alar Karis refused to promulgate the bill, on the grounds that it was unconstitutional. He argued that the broad ban on foreign associations disproportionately restricts freedom of association and religion and is too vague, risking a “chilling effect” on democratic rights. Karis emphasised that Estonia's existing legal framework is already capable of taking action against hostile foreign influence and protecting national security without violating fundamental rights. Interior Minister Igor Taro responded that the issue remains a government priority, regardless of the President’s stance.
Administrative court dismisses young activist’s climate lawsuit
In February 2025, the Tallinn Administrative Court dismissed a lawsuit by Fridays for Future Estonia and activist Elo-Lee Maran challenging the Environmental Board’s 2024 decision to grant Eesti Energia a permit for a new shale oil plant. The group notes that the decision has not yet entered into force and that they will continue to challenge it. The complaint was filed personally by high school student Maran, who argues that the permit violates children’s rights to a liveable environment. According to the group, it is the first climate lawsuit brought by an individual in Estonia.
In May 2024, the Estonian Environmental Board granted an integrated permit for the state-owned Enefit280-2 shale oil plant to operate until 2034. In June of the same year, Fridays for Future Estonia (legally registered as MTÜ Loodusvõlu) and activist Elo-Lee Maran filed a claim to halt its operation, arguing that the plant’s emissions would undermine Estonia’s climate targets, violate the Paris Agreement, and breach the National Energy and Climate Plan 2030. They also contended that the Board failed to assess cumulative environmental impacts on Natura 2000 sites and ignored Maran’s rights under national and international law. The Tallinn Administrative Court initially imposed interim protection to prevent operations until 12th July 2024, when it denied an extension and ordered the Environmental Board to respond.
Freedom of peaceful assembly
Proposal to amend Law Enforcement Act threatens protest rights
On the initiative of the Ministry of Justice, a legislative intent document to comprehensively amend the Law Enforcement Act was presented in 2024, introducing extensive provisions aimed at expanding police powers and easing existing restrictions on policing. The proposed reforms would have a direct impact on fundamental rights, particularly the freedoms of peaceful assembly and expression.
Civil society groups have voiced strong concerns about several measures, especially those affecting public gatherings and protests. The draft would grant the Police and Border Guard new powers to ban public gatherings as a preventive measure, giving police prefects broad discretion to prohibit assemblies based on preliminary information suggesting that unlawful activity might occur. Challenging such a decision would be difficult, as the organisers would bear the burden of proving that they did not intend to break the law during the event.
The document’s authors have also suggested prohibiting meetings linked to Russian state anniversaries, or events where symbols associated with aggression, genocide, crimes against humanity or war crimes are displayed. They also propose banning gatherings within a 50-metre radius of national defence sites, whose list is classified as a state secret.
Other proposals focus on surveillance and policing methods. These include dropping the requirement for law enforcement to notify individuals they are being filmed, permitting the use of unmanned drones for monitoring, and lowering the threshold for the use of so-called “less than lethal” crowd-control measures, such as rubber bullets and water cannon. The document also proposes defining publicly accessible online environments as public spaces. This would extend the behavioural requirements of the Law Enforcement Act to the online sphere, enabling police to penalise individuals who, in their assessment, behave improperly on digital platforms.
However, not all the provisions have been met with criticism. Civil society has welcomed the proposal to grant minors the right to organise public assemblies, which is currently not allowed in practice. Furthermore, they note that, while the ministries are very keen to move forward with the reforms, they are willing to split the proposals into smaller parts to allow for a broader and more transparent debate.
As of mid-2025, no official draft of the legislative amendments has been published.
Palestine solidarity protests: Supreme Court rules “from the river to the sea” is not a banned phrase
On 3rd May, the group “Solidarity with Palestine – Estonia” organised a peaceful “March for Palestine” in Tallinn’s Old Town, where demonstrators carried Palestinian flags and placards as they walked from the Viru Gates through Freedom Square to the Riigikogu. The organisers urged support for international law and the Palestinian people’s right to freedom and dignity, with organiser Flora Keresztely stressing that Estonia’s foreign policy must be grounded in clear and consistent adherence to international law. She warned that failing to uphold these principles could leave Estonia vulnerable in the future. The organisers also condemned antisemitism, Islamophobia and all forms of racism, while asking participants to refrain from using the slogan “From the river to the sea” because of previous police intervention.
The slogan has been at the centre of legal disputes in Estonia. In March, the Supreme Court considered the case of Leore Lisann Klõšeiko, who was fined under Penal Code §151 for allegedly supporting crimes such as aggression or genocide by holding up a placard with the phrase at a 2023 solidarity protest in Tallinn. The law, adopted in 2022 in response to Russian aggression, was applied for the first time outside that context. On 5th March 2025, the Supreme Court overturned the fine, ruling that the application of the law had been inappropriate, and ordered the state to pay Klõšeiko nearly €4,800 in compensation, along with expert examination costs of almost €9,800.
A similar case followed in May. On 30th May, the Supreme Court overturned a 2024 district court ruling against protester Nasim Hamed, who had been fined for chanting “From the river to the sea”. The court concluded that, for an average reasonable person in Estonia, the phrase was not specifically associated with Hamas or crimes against humanity, rejecting the lower court’s interpretation. It ordered the state to reimburse Hamed’s legal costs. Echoing its March judgment, the court stressed that only symbols with an unambiguously clear meaning to the general public can be prohibited, thereby setting an important precedent for freedom of expression amid debates over pro-Palestinian demonstrations in Estonia.
Another protest was held in Tallinn on 15th July, organised by the Palestinian solidarity group PALestonia. The march began at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs before moving through the city centre to Toompea. Speakers criticised the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court for failing to take action against Israel’s conduct in Palestine, while also voicing disapproval of Estonia’s foreign policy. In particular, they condemned Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna’s meeting with his Israeli counterpart and the government’s decision to open an Israeli embassy in Tallinn. Organiser Maria Mirjam Tali urged Estonia to uphold international law, defend human rights, and adopt a more balanced and independent foreign policy.
Pro-Israel protest in Tallinn
On 22nd June, the Elisha Training Center and the Estonian branch of the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, also known as the Israel Center, held a demonstration in support of Israel in Tallinn. The event featured music and speeches by pro-Israel activists, with participation from the Estonian Jewish Community, the Christian Fellowship of the Isamaa party, Tallinn’s Oleviste Congregation, the Kiviõli Free Congregation and several other organisations.
Protesters and exiled opposition decry “sham” election in Belarus
On 26th January, a protest was held in Freedom Square, Tallinn, against the parliamentary elections taking place in Belarus, which opposition representatives described as a sham. Speaking at the rally, Vitaliy Molchanov, representing exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, highlighted the repression inside Belarus, noting that over 1,800 people have been charged with political crimes, around 1,300 remain political prisoners, and more than a thousand NGOs have been shut down alongside the independent media. At the protest, participants symbolically shredded ballots, while organisers asked the media to limit photography to avoid endangering those who could face reprisals if identified by Belarusian authorities.
Environmental activists attempt to block felling of a 175-year-old tree
On 18th March, Tallinn’s oldest known black poplar, a 175-year-old tree planted around 1847, was felled in the city centre after experts deemed it hollow, diseased and dangerous. Environmental activists, including Estonian Greens member Evelyn Sepp, attempted to block the felling but were escorted from the site by municipal police. The tree had been the subject of ongoing disputes between conservationists and city authorities before the removal took place under police supervision.
Freedom of expression
Estonia ranks best in the EU for press freedom
Estonia ranked second in the 2025 World Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders, just behind Norway, making it the highest-ranked European Union country. The report highlighted Estonia’s progress across all sub-indicators, including fourth in political, third in legal and first in social, while warning of increasing online harassment and threats that encourage self-censorship. Estonian Journalists’ Union (EAL) Chair Helle Tiikmaa welcomed the achievement but stressed that challenges remain, pointing to the impact of legal proceedings and attacks on journalists in neighbouring Finland and Sweden. Anne Bocandé, editor-in-chief of Reporters Without Borders, warned that press freedom has reached an all-time low worldwide. Only seven countries are categorised as “good” and economic pressures are increasingly threatening journalists’ ability to combat propaganda and disinformation.
Journalists’ union slams Digital Affairs Minister’s AI proposal
On 7th February, the Estonian Journalists' Union (EAL) sharply criticised Justice and Digital Affairs Minister Liisa-Ly Pakosta for suggesting that journalistic content could be shared freely with artificial intelligence (AI) companies, calling the proposal both a violation of copyright and evidence of professional ignorance.
Pakosta’s ministry had earlier issued a press release announcing that Estonia had made nearly four billion words available to the social media platform Meta for use in training its large language models, and called on both the public and private sectors to publish Estonian-language material for use by AI companies in order to “contribute to the constitutional goal of ensuring the survival of the Estonian language”. In an interview with public broadcaster ERR, Pakosta also stated that the government was in discussion with the Estonian Media Association and ERR about allowing AI to be trained on Estonian-language media content. She argued that ERR’s output could be shared with AI companies free of charge because “it was paid for once by the taxpayer.”
EAL Chair Helle Tiikmaa stressed that journalistic works carry the same protections as other creative works, requiring attribution and respect for both property and personal rights. She also warned that the uncontrolled use of media texts by AI companies harbours the risk of fuelling disinformation and fake news. Tiikmaa also highlighted the contradiction between the minister’s claim of supporting the Estonian language as a constitutionally protected value and her proposal’s incompatibility with the constitutional guarantee of authors’ rights, adding that the stance was particularly surprising given recent European calls for governments to pressure major platforms to pay for media content.
Female journalist reportedly stalked, intimidated by subject of her reporting
Olga Minnik, a journalist for Delfi’s Russian-language service, accused Konstantin Gorlov, a Russian nationalist living in Estonia, of trying to intimidate her after she reported on his activities. She claimed that Gorlov and his associates had tried to find out personal information about her, and that Gorlov was waiting for her in a car park outside the Delfi editorial office on 17th February, prompting her to file a criminal complaint with police. Minnik described this as part of a pattern of harassment related to her investigative work, citing previous incidents, including attacks on her property and threats from Gorlov’s network.
Police confirmed to Postimees that a patrol was dispatched to the car park to respond to reports of a possible stalker, but found no immediate danger as the person described had already left. Gorlov denied any wrongdoing, claiming he was only in the area for personal reasons, did not approach Minnik, and left after a few minutes, calling the allegations a “figment of her imagination”.
On 5th April, Gorlov was expelled from Estonia by the Police and Border Guard Board in cooperation with the Internal Security Service (ISS), after being deemed a threat to national security and public order. His permanent residence permit was revoked and he was issued with an entry ban. He had previously been fined €800 by Harju County Court on charges of justifying an international crime by “publicly displaying a symbol linked to aggression and genocide” — an element of the coat of arms of the Russian Federation — during a TikTok livestream. According to an ISS spokesperson, Gorlov’s expulsion was justified on the grounds that he had incited inter-ethnic hatred over an extended period of time, supported Russia's military and propaganda goals and had links to people working for the Russian secret services and military interests. In particular, the spokesperson cited his involvement in a combat training club linked to the Russian Imperial Legion, the paramilitary wing of the white-supremacist group the Russian Imperial Movement, as well as his promotion of Russian propaganda on social media.