In the winter of 2026, two Estonian citizens independently crossed the border with Russia through lake ice within one week. They both wanted to seek international protection. Some believe that the Estonian state mistreats people with special needs and hides it. Another did not speak Estonian (even though he had lived in the country all his life) and had difficulty finding work. As a result, they ended up in a Russian pre-trial detention center – there they were sent under a criminal article on illegal border crossing. “Media Zone” And an Estonian newspaper Estonian Express Tell the details of this story.
The 42-year-old went out to the glacial lake Teploe (this is part of the Peipus-Pskov lake complex) on January 25, 2026 at 22:30. At around 9 a.m. the next day, surveillance cameras from the Estonian police and the Border Guard Department recorded Rando crossing the Russian border. After that, he took a photo of the border mark and posted it on Facebook. He was arrested without being allowed to walk even 100 meters into Russian territory.
Mediazona describes Randu as someone passionate about the conspiracy idea that people in Estonia are subjected to sexual violence, and the state is covering it up. He has dedicated his videos to this purpose, claiming that all municipalities and social services in Estonia are controlled by “rats” who steal from people in their care. “Yes, he had this obsession. He just talked about it,” confirmed a close friend of the Estonian.
Rando’s relatives, who spoke to Eesti Ekspress, describe him as someone who was “born with special needs” (it is not specified what this means). In addition, they say that as a child, he suffered a serious injury, which aggravated his condition, after which he several times entered a psychiatric clinic, where he once spent more than two years in a row.
One of the main subjects of Rando’s videos was a nursing home in the city of Valga, where, according to him, women were systematically raped. Rando’s words, as Mediazona wrote, “sounded pro-Russian tones.” In particular, he promised that, when the “Russians” came, he would provide them with evidence of the crimes committed by the “Estonian race.” He also said that he would go to Russia. The police conducted an investigation, but did not determine the crimes that Rando spoke about.
On the same topic, Rando contacted Estonian television journalists – and in January a show with his participation was broadcast. He introduced himself to the broadcaster as a “hardened criminal.” Mediazona discovered that he actually had a criminal past: in the period 2007-2012, he was convicted several times for drunken brawls, thefts and assaults.
On January 7, Rando broke into Valga’s administration. The police arrived and asked him to leave the building. He left declaring that he was a “Russian citizen” and was ready to seek justice in Russia. Police brought Rando’s case to the attention of municipal officials, but what happened next is unclear. About two weeks later, Rando found himself in Russia.
Another week later, on the night of February 1, another 25-year-old Estonian crossed the ice into Russia in a similar way. Russian border guards found traces and at noon the next day informed the Estonian side about an Estonian citizen who crossed the border without documents. After some time, Daniel was also arrested.
Daniel’s mother says he did not take any items or documents with him, and his mobile phone and passport remained at home on the table. According to her, Danil was born and lived all his life in Estonia, but he did not speak the Estonian language, and this interfered with work. When Danil last lost his job, he started saying he was thinking about moving to Russia, his mother said. She speculates that her son had mental health problems exacerbated by alcohol, “but no one really saw what was going through his head.”
Neither Rando nor Daniel requested assistance from the Estonian embassy, but rather asked Russia for international protection, according to the Estonian Police and Border Guard Department. But in the end, the Gdovsky District Court of the Pskov region detained both of them in a case of illegal border crossing – and they ended up in Pskov pre-trial detention center No. 1.
Daniel’s mother learned of her son’s arrest from journalists. He did not respond to Mediazona’s messages. On Rando’s behalf, one of his cellmates responded to the letter (the Federal Penitentiary Service does not allow correspondence in foreign languages), who wrote that the Estonian had been appointed “state attorney” and conveyed a request to send “a mass of cigarettes, tea, sugar, matches and coffee” and to contact his friends so that they “put the money into the account of the pre-trial detention center.”
The founder of the Civil Assistance Committee, Svetlana Ganushkina, which helps refugees and migrants, believes that if Estonians truly seek asylum in Russia, opening a criminal case would violate Article 31 of the 1951 Refugee Convention. She points out that foreigners convicted under the illegal border crossing article usually face “a short period of imprisonment or a fine, then deportation.”
The Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs indicates that the country’s citizens rarely request asylum in Russia, but it is impossible to accurately count these cases, because the procedure does not provide for notification of the country of origin. On April 21, the ministry explained that Randu, who had been seeking asylum in Russia, had nonetheless turned to Estonian diplomats for help. Whether Daniel did the same remains unknown.