Estonia Investigates Possible Russian Sabotage in “Milrem Robotics” Fire
“Polygonjournal” reports that this was stated by “Milrem Robotics” CEO Kuldar Väärsi in a post on his LinkedIn account.
He said that a fire broke out at one of the company’s facilities in Tallinn over the weekend: “Most importantly, no one was injured. Our security systems enabled us to respond quickly to the incident, while the police and rescue services arrived at the scene within a short time.”
Estonian authorities said they are investigating whether the incident was caused deliberately and whether it was an attempted act of sabotage. Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal also noted that investigators are examining whether Russia was behind the incident.
According to the CEO, “Milrem” and Estonia’s defense industry have increasingly become the focus of Russian attention in recent years: “In 2022, a Moscow-based defense think tank offered a reward of 1 million rubles for the capture of one of “Milrem’s” THeMIS unmanned ground combat vehicles in Ukraine. The amount was later increased to 2 million rubles.”
K. Väärsi emphasized that the fire has not had a significant impact on the company’s operations or deliveries to customers. He added that more than 150 THeMIS unmanned ground combat vehicles will be in service in Ukraine by the end of this year. At the same time, “Milrem Robotics” is working to further increase this number in the coming years.
