Baltic States – CIS, Estonia, EU – Baltic States, Legislation, Technology

State Prosecutor's Office spokeswoman Carol Merzin said that the Security Police (KaPo) will investigate the case on the basis of punitive law provision on violating the confidentiality of messages. Also since there is no information that the eavesdropping was legal, there are also characteristics of private surveillance activities here, she said.

Irrespective of whether the eavesdropping took place in Estonia or outside, the Estonian punitive law is valid regarding crimes committed against Estonian citizens.

"Although initially the existing information gives cause to thinking that the eavesdropping didn’t take place in Estonia, it is necessary to start criminal proceedings to find out the circumstances of the events in more detail," said Merzin.

Foreign Minister Urmas Paet said at the government's press conference on Thursday also that as far as initial understanding goes, the phone call between him and Catherine Ashton didn’t take place in Estonia and with local means of communication.

A phone call recording was leaked to YouTube on Wednesday where Estonian foreign minister Urmas Paet speaks of his recent visit to Ukraine with to High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton, where Paet notes that the snipers who killed people in Kiev could have been commissioned by the new coalition. Paet cites in the phone call, that took place on February 26, citizens activist Olga Bogomolets who told Paet that the same snipers shot in Maidan both the Ukrainian police forces and rebels.