Pevkur returns to parliament as Kuusemäe gives up seat

Hanno Pevkur will return to Estonia’s parliament after resigning as defence minister, while Katrin Kuusemäe will give up her seat, ERR reported, citing Reform Party spokesperson Sander Andla.

Pevkur is expected to take up a role in the Riigikogu’s national defence committee, which currently has no chair.

The committee’s previous chair, Kalev Stoicescu, left Eesti 200 at the beginning of August and joined Parempoolsed. Eesti 200 subsequently recalled him from the committee chairmanship.

Pevkur announced his resignation on Wednesday on the public broadcaster’s Aktuaalne Kaamera programme. He had served as defence minister since 2022.

The Prosecutor’s Office launched criminal proceedings on Tuesday to investigate matters related to the Defence Ministry’s administrative area, including issues covered in this year’s and last year’s audits by the National Audit Office. No one has been suspected of a crime.

On Wednesday, it emerged that Estonia had sought to buy shells for Ukraine and paid Indian companies a total of 70 million euros in advance. The companies had allegedly never sold a single shell before.