Russia puts PM Kaja Kallas of NATO member Estonia on criminal wanted list

Estonia's prime minister has been put on a wanted list in Russia because of her efforts to remove Soviet-era Second World War monuments in the Baltic nation, officials said Tuesday, as tensions between Russia and the West soar amid the war in Ukraine.

Russian media reported Tuesday that Kaja Kallas's name appears on the Interior Ministry's register of people wanted on criminal charges, but it was not clear when she was added to the list, which also includes scores of officials and lawmakers from other Baltic nations.

The ministry didn't specify what charges Kallas faces, but other officials said the move was related to her efforts to remove Second World War monuments.

Estonia and other NATO members — Latvia and Lithuania — have sought to remove the monuments widely seen as a legacy of Soviet occupation of the countries. Moscow has denounced those moves as a desecration of memory of Soviet soldiers who fell while fighting the Nazis.

The inclusion of Kallas — who has fiercely advocated for increased military assistance to Ukraine and stronger sanctions against Russia — appears to reflect the Kremlin's effort to up the ante in the face of pressure from NATO allies as the war nears the two-year mark.

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While it means little in practical terms as Russia-West contacts have been frozen during the conflict, it comes at a time when European members of NATO are growing increasingly worried about how the U.S. election will affect the future of the alliance.

It is the first time the Russian ministry has put a foreign leader on a wanted list. Estonian Secretary of State Taimar Peterkop and Lithuanian Culture Minister Simonas Kairys are also on the list, which is accessible to the public, along with scores of officials and lawmakers from Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova confirmed that Kallas and Peterkop were put on the list because of their involvement in the removal of monuments.

Asked about the move, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters it was a response to action by Kallas and others who "have taken hostile action toward historic memory and our country."

Russia has laws criminalizing the "rehabilitation of Nazis," which include clauses punishing the desecration of war memorials. Russia's Investigative Committee, the country's top criminal investigation agency, has a dedicated department to deal with alleged "falsification of history" and "rehabilitation of Nazism," and has ramped up its action since the start of the war, according to Mediazona, an independent Russian news outlet that analyzed the wanted list on Tuesday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that ridding Ukraine of far-right, neo-Nazi groups is one of the central aims of his war there. Putin has offered no proof to back his repeated claims that such groups have a decisive voice in shaping the country's policies.

The move could also mark an attempt by Moscow to counter last year's arrest warrant against Putin that was issued by the International Criminal Court over the alleged deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia.

There was no immediate reaction from Estonian authorities.