According to the Yearbook of the Estonian Internal Security Service, published in April, last summer, teenagers from the ballroom dance group “Flamingo” of the Narva House of Culture “Rugodiv” went to the propaganda camp “Artek” in occupied Crimea, together with their leader Elena Kurgan.
The yearbook says that Elena Kurgan’s husband, Andrei Markus, an employee of the Sillamäe Interest Center “Ulej”, “issued travel documents to the Crimean peninsula” for himself and the children in order to “make the trip official”.
Now, Russian agents of influence Kurgan and Markus are trying to deny their role in organizing the trip, while simultaneously stating that journalists “have nothing to write about” and that supposedly “by May 9, they are apparently starting to look for something again”.
However, it was these same people who prepared all the “necessary documents” for the group’s participation first in the so-called “Artek – the capital of childhood” competition, and later, as “winners”, for a trip to occupied Crimea. The police Yearbook indicated that Kurgan and Markus were actually taking children to areas close to military action, creating corresponding risks and “do not want to admit it”.
The Yearbook says that in “Artek” the Estonian children were placed in a camp called “Lesnoy”, where they were organized to meet people who are under sanctions in many countries of the world due to war crimes.
Among them were, for example, Yuri Borisov, the CEO of “Roscosmos”, as well as propagandist Dmitry Kiselyov. The camp participants met with the aggressor’s servicemen, they were shown “Wagner” symbols and “among other things, the Russian invasion of Ukraine was supported in every possible way”.
At the same time, in the future, the Estonian government decree of December 19, 2024 prohibited organizing events for Estonian citizens and persons with a residence permit in Estonia under the age of 21 that support Russia’s interests in invading Ukraine.
The Estonian government also officially does not recommend trips to Russia or the areas occupied by it in general. Let us recall that we previously wrote about the criminal activities of Russian agents in France, who also facilitated similar trips to “Artek” last year.
