This summer, available in Estonia, “The History of the Finnish Security Police – Ratakatu 12”, touches upon, amongst other things, then prime minister Edgar Savisaar’s choice of top bureaucrats during the early 1990s.
A direct quote from the book: “When Estonia, in August 1991, declared its independence during the attempted coup [by hard-line communists in Moscow] and was granted recognition by Russian president Boris Jeltsin, the Finnish security police (SUPO), through police contacts was well informed of the situation of the newly forming republic and provided special assistance, until a special police unit was created in Estonia. The Finnish security police knew that during the Soviet era the KGB had 1053 official positions in Estonia (not counting various levels of operatives not officially listed). When comparing populations this would be 18 times greater than in Finland
“ A separate item was the question of an individual, who, as a protégé of prime minister Edgar Savisaar rose to a high official position. He was not granted a visa to enter Finland, an important country to Estonia. He was in co-operation with the KGB. His ‘persona non grata’ status from Finland was enforced starting in 1990 and SUPO refused to recind it.
Savisaar’s security chief in the early 1990s and his current vice-major of Tallinn, Kalle Klandorf, has tried to discredit the book. He has said that it’s difficult to comment on a protégé of Savisaar’s from that era. He added that there were many involved with the government whose reputations were targets of political compromise. This was in response to references in the book that Savisaar was promoting individuals with dubious backgrounds. (Loe pikemalt Eesti Elu 6. detsembri paberlehest.)
