30 years since Estonia sank – military secrecy still prevails

Published 28 September 2024 at 20.37

Domestic. Today it is 30 years since the passenger ferry M/S Estonia sank in the Baltic Sea on its way from Estonia to Sweden. But there are 40 years left on the secrecy that protects the truth about the military's possible involvement in the disaster that claimed 852 lives.

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The accident has become known not only for the large number of casualties, but also for the authorities' apparently strange handling of the accident, when the authorities were found to have covered up several military transports on board as well as a large hole on the starboard side, which was later revealed by journalists.

A family association for the victims of the sinking of the M/S Estonia was last denied in 2018 information on whether the military intelligence and security service MUST had any documents on the M/S Estonia. The association appealed to the court.

The association lost, but from the Armed Forces' response to the court it was indirectly clear that political dynamite was buried in MUST's archives about Estonia.

According to the Armed Forces, the matter was so “sensitive” that the authority cannot even comment on whether any documents about Estonia exist in MUST's archive.

The secrecy also includes diaries of public documents, which makes it impossible to verify whether any documents about Estonia even exist.

The secrecy invoked refers to the protection of “the defense of the kingdom and the activities of the total defence”. The information could “damage the country's security” if it became public, according to the Armed Forces.

A rather unusual circumstance for a civilian ferry disaster.

The family association appealed to the Court of Appeal in Stockholm, which, however, shared the Armed Forces' assessment and determined that secrecy also applies in this case.

This means that information about any military actions surrounding the Estonia disaster remains classified for 70 years from the disaster in 1994. In practice, actions are usually declassified earlier than that, which means that the truth , if the Armed Forces can choose, will never come forward.