Estonia blames Russia in arson attack on military robotics firm Milrem

GLASGOW, Scotland — Russian special services were behind the fire at a building used by an Estonian military robotics company last month, the government in Tallinn said on Tuesday.

The finding comes after a six-week investigation by the Estonian Internal Security Service. In a press statement , the government said it could say “with full confidence that the arson attack on the building of defence industry company Milrem … was an act of sabotage commissioned by the special services of the Russian Federation.”

A fire was spotted by residents in a Lasnamäe neighborhood building used by Milrem in the night of Aug. 14-15, and was quickly contained, Estonian media reported at the time. Two Latvian citizens were detained in Latvia on Aug. 17 and a third the next day. They were subsequently handed over to Estonia. Authorities in Tallinn had been investigating the case as suspected sabotage from the start.

Milrem makes the THeMIS unmanned ground vehicle. Over 150 of these robots are to be sent to Ukraine soon, funded by the Dutch government. An initial fifteen were already supporting Ukrainian forces by October 2025. The Estonian company bills itself as the “world leader in the autonomous unmanned ground vehicles domain” on its website. The United Arab Emirates’ state-owned EDGE group has held a majority stake since 2023.

The arson in Tallinn came just ten days after an explosive-laden drone struck a Ukrainian cargo plane, failing to detonate, and a second drone collided with a Boeing 757 in the air at Leipzig/Halle Airport in Germany, a set of incidents that German authorities have since also connected to Russia. The events are part of an escalating pattern of Russian sabotage and sub-threshold hostile actions against Western countries, particularly those with outsized support for Ukraine, European officials have said.

In response to the finding that Russia was behind the arson attack on Milrem, one of the darlings of Estonia’s budding defense industry, Estonian foreign minister Margus Tsahkna said the government was summoning Russia’s Chargé d’affaires.

Prime Minister Kristen Michal called it “absolutely unacceptable and irresponsible” that Russia was resorting to sabotage to intimidate Europe and force it to reduce its support for Ukraine. Estonia would be doing the opposite, said Tsahkna, the foreign minister.

“Together with our allies and partners in Europe and beyond, we will increase pressure on Russia, tighten sanctions, and seek additional ways to restrict the travel of Russian citizens to Europe. We will also continue and strengthen our comprehensive support for Ukraine,” said Tsahkna. All three suspects apprehended in relation to the Milrem fire are reportedly Latvian nationals.

A similar case of arson near the Rohde & Schwarz and Helsing offices in Munich, Germany, on Sept. 3 led to the arrest of two Bulgarian nationals. German press agency dts has reported that authorities suspect Russia’s military-intelligence service GRU to be behind the arson.

“Estonian security authorities are closely monitoring Russia’s activities and cooperate closely with both Estonian companies and international partners to prevent such incidents,” said Margo Palloson, the head of the ISS, Estonia’s interior intelligence agency. “Estonia is a safe country and our goal is to ensure that it remains so.”

Defense companies and organizations working in support of Ukraine would continue to face “elevated threat,” and Russia will continue to “recruit and influence people in Europe, including for the purpose of carrying out acts of sabotage,” Palloson said.

In response to the Estonian attribution, Kremlin spokesperson Dimitry Peskov told reporters that “we cannot and will not take such statements seriously.” The accusations were “baseless” and with “absolutely no relation to reality,” Peskov said.

Linus Höller is Defense News' Europe correspondent and OSINT investigator. He reports on the arms deals, sanctions, and geopolitics shaping Europe and the world. He holds master’s degrees in WMD nonproliferation, terrorism studies, and international relations, and works in four languages: English, German, Russian, and Spanish.

苏格兰格拉斯哥——爱沙尼亚塔林政府周二表示，上个月爱沙尼亚一家军事机器人公司使用的建筑物发生的火灾是俄罗斯特勤部门所为。

这项调查结果是爱沙尼亚国内安全局历时六周后得出的。爱沙尼亚政府在一份新闻声明中表示，可以“完全有把握地说，对国防工业公司米尔雷姆大楼的纵火袭击……是俄罗斯联邦特勤部门指使的破坏行为。”

据爱沙尼亚媒体当时报道，8月14日至15日夜间，拉什纳迈社区一栋米尔雷姆公司使用的建筑内发生火灾，居民发现火情后迅速得到控制。8月17日，两名拉脱维亚公民在拉脱维亚被拘留，第三名公民于次日被拘留。随后，他们被移交给爱沙尼亚。塔林当局从一开始就将此案作为疑似蓄意破坏事件进行调查。

Milrem公司生产THeMIS无人地面车辆。由荷兰政府资助，超过150辆该型机器人即将运往乌克兰。截至2025年10月，首批15辆已投入乌克兰军队使用。这家爱沙尼亚公司在其网站上自称是“自主无人地面车辆领域的全球领导者”。自2023年以来，阿联酋国有企业EDGE集团一直持有该公司多数股权。

塔林纵火案发生仅十天前，一架装载爆炸物的无人机袭击了一架乌克兰货机，但爆炸物并未引爆；另一架无人机在德国莱比锡/哈勒机场与一架波音757客机相撞。德国当局随后也将这一系列事件与俄罗斯联系起来。欧洲官员表示，这些事件是俄罗斯针对西方国家，特别是那些对乌克兰给予巨大支持的国家，不断升级的破坏和潜在敌对行动的一部分。

针对俄罗斯被认定为纵火袭击米尔雷姆（Milrem）的幕后黑手（米尔雷姆是爱沙尼亚新兴国防工业的宠儿之一）的幕后黑手，爱沙尼亚外交部长马尔古斯·察赫克纳表示，政府正在召见俄罗斯临时代办。

爱沙尼亚总理克里斯滕·米哈尔称，俄罗斯诉诸破坏手段恐吓欧洲，迫使其减少对乌克兰的支持，这种做法“绝对不可接受且极其不负责任”。爱沙尼亚外交部长察赫纳表示，爱沙尼亚将采取截然相反的做法。

“我们将与我们在欧洲及其他地区的盟友和伙伴一道，加大对俄罗斯的施压力度，加强制裁，并寻求更多途径限制俄罗斯公民前往欧洲。我们还将继续并加强对乌克兰的全面支持，”察赫克纳表示。据报道，与米尔雷姆纵火案有关的三名嫌疑人均为拉脱维亚公民。

9月3日，德国慕尼黑罗德与施瓦茨公司和赫尔辛公司办公楼附近发生一起类似的纵火案，导致两名保加利亚公民被捕。德国通讯社dts报道称，当局怀疑俄罗斯军事情报机构格鲁乌（GRU）是这起纵火案的幕后黑手。

爱沙尼亚内部情报机构ISS负责人玛戈·帕洛森表示：“爱沙尼亚安全部门正密切监控俄罗斯的活动，并与爱沙尼亚企业和国际伙伴紧密合作，以防止此类事件发生。爱沙尼亚是一个安全的国家，我们的目标是确保它继续保持安全。”

帕洛森表示，支持乌克兰的国防公司和组织将继续面临“更高的威胁”，俄罗斯将继续“招募和影响欧洲民众，包括为了实施破坏活动”。

针对爱沙尼亚方面的指责，克里姆林宫发言人德米特里·佩斯科夫告诉记者，“我们不能也不会认真对待此类说法。”佩斯科夫表示，这些指控“毫无根据”，并且“与现实完全不符”。

林努斯·霍勒是《防务新闻》的欧洲记者和开源情报调查员。他报道影响欧洲乃至全球的军火交易、制裁和地缘政治。他拥有大规模杀伤性武器不扩散、恐怖主义研究和国际关系三个硕士学位，并精通英语、德语、俄语和西班牙语四种语言。