Estonia to help investigate blasts

Aug 31, 2000

Interior Minister Tarmo Loodus has offered his Latvian counterpart, Mareks Seglins, help in tracking down the culprits of two explosions that rocked the Rimi supermarket in Riga's Old Town on Aug. 17, killing one and injuring 35 persons.

In a telephone conversation with Seglins, Loodus referred to Estonian law and order enforcement agencies' great experience of bomb threats and successful investigation of threats that have been carried out, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry said.

The Latvian minister thanked the Estonian side for the offer and said Latvia would resort to Estonian specialists' assistance if necessary, after the situation has become clearer. The interior ministers discussed the possible reasons for the blasts only briefly.

On Aug. 18 Loodus received a request for assistance from Russian Interior Minister Vladimir Rushailo in connection with the August 8 explosion in Moscow that killed 11 and injured more than 100.

"The Russian Interior Ministry is very interested in any information and cooperation that would expedite investigation of the crime, capture of the culprits and prevention of further acts of terrorism," Rushailo wrote.

Kalev Timberg, the Estonian Interior Ministry's deputy chancellor responsible for internal security, has given orders to the ministry's relevant agencies to give assistance to and work hand in hand with Russian bodies to discover the perpetrators of the bombing in Moscow.

The Estonian Interior Ministry signed agreements on cooperation with the Russian and Latvian ministries in 1997 and 1995, respectively.

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