Estonian authorities are considering whether to extradite two residents accused of helping Russian military intelligence (GRU) operatives send parcel bombs that nearly caused major air disasters across Europe, Estonia’s national broadcaster ERR.ee reported on October 9.

Fifteen people across several countries have been charged in connection with the case. 

The Harju District Court in Tallinn is weighing Lithuania’s request to extradite businessman Eldar Salmanov, a Russian passport holder from Ida-Viru County, and his partner, Gelena Gusseva. The pair are suspected of acting as intermediaries in a GRU sabotage network that used commercial courier routes to plant explosive devices aboard cargo aircraft.

According to investigators, several packages caught fire last July at courier warehouses in Leipzig, Warsaw and Birmingham, narrowly avoiding detonations mid-flight. Lithuanian prosecutors believe the parcels were meant to explode on transatlantic routes, ERR.ee said.

“The original plan was probably for these packages to explode on transatlantic flights, but instead they went off in Birmingham, Leipzig and Warsaw,” said Indre Makaraityte, head of investigations at Lithuania’s public broadcaster LRT.

A cross-border probe by journalists from the Baltics, Poland and the United States linked the operation to the GRU, whose sabotage unit was reportedly formed in 2023 from ex–Soviet naval officers. The Lithuanian Prosecutor’s Office confirmed that the first link in the chain originated in Estonia.

Salmanov, 67, allegedly mailed one of the suspect parcels from Narva-Joesuu in June 2024 through Gusseva, who worked at the Transport Administration. The package, labelled as containing massage cushions, travelled via Riga and Vilnius before similar devices later ignited in Western Europe.

Veteran security analyst Edward Lucas called the affair “one of the boldest and most dangerous GRU operations in recent memory”, warning that even small fires aboard aircraft can have catastrophic results, ERR.ee said.

Estonia’s court will decide in the coming weeks whether to hand over Salmanov and Gusseva to Lithuanian authorities.

As reported by bne IntelliNews, Russian intelligence has bolstered its activities in the Baltic countries since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.