Eerik-Niiles Kross

Who is Eerik-Niiles Kross?

Eerik–Niiles Kross is an Estonian diplomat, intelligence chief, entrepreneur and politician. During the 1980s, Kross was a leading figure in the anti-Soviet resistance movement in Soviet Estonia. After reindependence, in 1991, he joined Estonia's Foreign Ministry. He served as the head of intelligence from 1995 to 2000; and as national security advisor to former President Lennart Meri in 2000-2001.

Kross represented Estonia as a diplomat in the UK, from 1990–92; then in the USA, from 1992-95.

Internationally, Kross is best known as a security expert, having worked in Iraq as a Senior Director of the Coalition Provisional Authority being responsible for creating the new Iraqi Ministry of Defense and Military Intelligence. He was an advisor to the Government of Georgia during and after its war with Russia in 2008. He coordinated the Georgian information campaign.

As an astute observer of foreign affairs, he has published more than a 100 articles on Russian foreign policy, NATO and Estonian-Russian relations. Kross is a well known critic of the Russian foreign policy and Vladimir Putin.

In 2011, Russian authorities accused him of masterminding the 2009 hijacking of the MV Arctic Sea off the coast of Sweden. The Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in Estonia, rejected this accusation as a fabrication by Russia's FSB; although Estonia's Government has conceded that, Russia has many reasons for hating Kross.