TALLINN. July 16 (Interfax) - Money was the main reason why Aleksei Dressen, a former officer at the Estonian Security Police, agreed to spy for Russia, a decision that earned him a 16-year prison term, the security agency's head said on Friday.
Dressen, who had served in the terrorism prevention unit of the Security Police, focusing on Russian-speaking movements, was convicted on July 3 of high treason and divulging of internal information.
His wife, Viktoria Dressen, who was allegedly his liaison agent, was convicted of high treason and crime complicity and received a six-year suspended sentence with a five-year probation period.
The Security Police classified the Dressens case for 50 years.
"The chief motives of Dressen's [decision] were money, personal ambitions and disappointment with his career," Security Police General Director Raivo Aeg told the Eesti Paevaleht newspaper. "Money was the chief motive."
"Dressen's the definitive acceptance in 2001 of a proposal for cooperation with the FSB precisely coincided in time with setbacks in his Security Police career, and this was apparently taken advantage of," Aeg said.
Aeg argued that the FSB takes serious interest in Estonia - Dressen reported to a senior FSB official, he explained.
Aeg played down the FSB's skills of recruiting spies from among foreigners. "They weren't able to conceal Dressen's recruitment fully. The same was the case with Herman Simm," he said.
Simm is a former head of the Estonian Defense Ministry's security department convicted of spying for Russia and sentenced to 12 and a half years in prison.
"I can't name the exact number, but we know that they have had quite frequent unsuccessful attempts at recruitment," Aeg said.