Russia is spying on Estonian energy using airships
The russian federation is using reconnaissance-equipped airships to conduct round-the-clock surveillance of power plants and oil shale quarries operated by Eesti Energia in the border county of Ida-Virumaa. This approach allows intelligence gathering without directly violating NATO airspace.
◻️ The surveillance serves several purposes: collecting data to prepare potential sabotage and cyberattacks, as well as exerting psychological pressure on employees of strategic enterprises. This forces the Estonian side to introduce additional security protocols, which automatically increases costs for European partners to protect their own energy independence.
Such activity demonstrates the evolution of the kremlin’s hybrid methods aimed at identifying vulnerabilities in the Baltic energy system — especially during its integration into European energy networks. Systemic infrastructure espionage is part of a broader strategy to destabilize Europe’s energy sector and increase the political and economic cost of supporting Ukraine for EU governments.
The Center previously reported on an attempted cyberattack by russian special services on Poland’s energy infrastructure in December 2025.
