Photo: Screenshot.
The eighth World Congress of Compatriots took place from October 30 to 31 at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow. According to the official description, this congress is “the highest representative body ensuring cooperation between (Russian—ed.) compatriots and the government bodies of the Russian Federation and its regional authorities.” The first such congress was held in October 2001, a year and a half after Vladimir Putin assumed office as President of Russia.
For Estonia, the eighth World Congress of Compatriots was noteworthy due to the speech delivered by Oleg Ivanov, a member of the board of the Estonian political party KOOS. Ivanov, who has been living in Russia since May 2023, described his appearance at the congress on Facebook, where his post received 118 likes, 33 comments, and 22 shares. (The KOOS party, registered in May 2023, currently has no chairman; both Oleg Ivanov and Aivo Peterson, who is currently imprisoned, are members of the party’s nine-member board.)
From the congress podium, Oleg Ivanov described the situation as follows: “After the successful parliamentary elections, where my comrade-in-arms (Aivo Peterson) and I received many votes, my comrade-in-arms was imprisoned because we refused to go to war with Russia.”
Aivo Peterson and Oleg Ivanov achieved notable personal election results during the March 2023 Estonian parliamentary elections. Peterson received 3,970 votes in the Ida-Viru County electoral district, while Ivanov garnered 2,703 votes in the Lasnamäe and Central Tallinn district. Since KOOS had not yet been officially registered as a party at that time, Peterson, Ivanov, and their like-minded colleagues ran under the United Left Party list, which collected 14,605 votes, or 2.4% of all votes cast in the elections. In this year’s European Parliament elections held in May, independent candidate Aivo Peterson received 11,503 votes nationwide, or 3.1% of all votes cast, despite being in custody at the time of the elections.
Ivanov continued his speech by stating that KOOS has tried to involve the United Nations in defending Aivo Peterson’s rights. “We initiated three processes with the UN. These processes were successfully launched thanks to the people who are currently present in this hall. I want to express my deep gratitude to these individuals,” Ivanov said.
It is worth recalling that in March 2023, then-leader of KOOS, Aivo Peterson, was charged under Section 235 of the Penal Code. According to the charges, Peterson knowingly and in an organized manner assisted individuals acting on behalf of the Russian Federation and its authorities, following instructions from Russia, in non-violent activities aimed against the independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity of the Republic of Estonia. In Peterson’s trial, Harju County Court ruled on October 7 of this year that he could be released on bail of 150,000 euros. However, despite repeated calls for donations on social media, KOOS has not yet managed to raise this amount.
Moskvas kaasmaalaste kongressil peetud kõnes väitis Ivanov alusetult, et just tänu ÜRO survele otsustas Harju maakohus otsuse, mis lubab Petersoni kautsjoni vastu vabastada.
Lisaks videosalvestusele Ivanovi kõnest kaasmaalaste kongressil avaldas KOOSi liider Facebookis veel üht videoklipi, mis on ilmselt salvestatud vahetult enne ametlikku esinemist. Selles videoklipis seisab Oleg Ivanov Moskvas Päästja Kristuse katedraali taustal.
“Friends, family, loved ones! Greetings to everyone!” begins Ivanov in his video address. “You know that in Estonia, Russians are still being targeted, with attempts to strip them of their voting rights ahead of the local government elections, so that the KOOS party does not receive enough votes and we are kept from coming to power.”
Ivanov then claims that Interior Minister Lauri Läänemets portrays KOOS party supporters as disloyal citizens.
“In this regard, I would like to make the following statement to Mr. Läänemets. You are probably aware that Aivo Peterson recently announced that after his release from prison, the first thing we will do is establish a Popular Front to fight for human rights. I can inform you that if you commit this crime (stripping non-citizens of their voting rights – ed.), if you do not stop your Russophobic and fascist attempts to mock, humiliate, and discriminate against Russians, we will establish the Popular Front sooner! We will not wait for Aivo Peterson’s release from prison,” declared Ivanov.
According to the KOOS board member, this concerns new processes in “international bodies,” and he once again references the “processes initiated at the UN.”
The KOOS website contains only one news item linking Peterson’s court case to the UN. It is published on August 16, titled “Aivo Peterson’s Case Reaches the UN Human Rights Committee.”
In addition, a complaint addressed to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights was prepared by the Swiss organization Justice pour Tous Internationale (International Justice for All). According to information published on its official website, this Swiss organization is concerned not only with Peterson’s case but also with issues such as Julian Assange‘s fate and the Swiss authorities’ decision to ban the activities of the terrorist organization Hamas within the country.
The analysis attached to the complaint was prepared by Professor Douwe Korff, an expert in international law who, ten years ago, defended Edward Snowden, the whistleblower who leaked information about the highly classified surveillance program of the United States. In September 2022, Snowden was granted Russian citizenship and has been living in Russia since then.
Photo: Screenshot.
The summary of Korff’s analysis reads as follows:
“The case of Aivo Peterson is a vivid example of increasingly Cold War-like attempts not only to suppress the spread of ‘pro-Russian propaganda and misinformation’ in Europe by Russian media outlets but to go even further, initiating criminal proceedings—such as in Peterson’s case, with the most serious ‘anti-state’ charges—against individuals who merely express support for or convey (to the authorities) inconvenient information.”
The day before Oleg Ivanov’s post from the Compatriots Congress in Moscow, on October 29, Aivo Peterson gave an interview to the newspaper Narvskaja Gazeta. Still in custody, Peterson promised to participate in the local elections scheduled for October 2025 as a mayoral candidate in Narva.
It is likely that Ivanov and Peterson are attempting to position the KOOS party for next year’s local elections and secure representation in municipalities where they had significant support based on their parliamentary election results.
COMMENT: Spokesperson for the Estonian Internal Security Service (KAPO), Marta Tuul
Does the Internal Security Service (KAPO) have information about Oleg Ivanov or the KOOS party’s activities related to the creation of a “Popular Front”?
Russian propagandists are quick to use inverted meanings of terms and events associated with Estonia’s re-independence. These ideas, lacking any substantial basis, are spread as part of Kremlin influence operations to discredit the Estonian state and undermine support for Ukraine.
What was important for Estonia regarding this year’s “World Congress of Compatriots”?
This event is part of Russia’s divisive policies aimed at Western countries, through which the Kremlin seeks, among other things, to justify its aggression in Ukraine with the support of selected (i.e., Kremlin-trusted) representatives of Russian-speaking organizations abroad.
It is a Kremlin-coordinated and orchestrated propaganda event, and any attention given to it in Western countries, including overestimating its influence, feeds the aggressor state’s narratives about alleged Russophobia, fear of Russia, and similar topics.
