The police have completed the investigation of the criminal case against the former head of Sputnik Estonia Chemerisheva

The Security Police (KaPo) has completed the investigation of a criminal case on the possible involvement of the former heads of the Sputnik Estonia portal, Elena Cerisheva and her husband Mati-Dmitri Terestal, in violating international anti-Russian sanctions, according to the KaPo yearbook published on April 12, 2024. The criminal case is in the prosecutor's office, which is preparing materials to be sent to court.

According to the criminal case, which began in 2021, there is reason to suspect that Elena Cierisheva and her husband Mati-Dmitri Terestal, through the Sputnik Meedia portal, provided access to financial resources to a person under sanctions for more than 350,000 euros. The funds are suspected to have originated from the Russian Federation.

In addition, they continued to operate the portal (already on the basis of the Sprut Meedia company owned by the couple) even after the sanction imposed by the European Union on March 1, 2022.

In April 2022, Elena Cherysheva and Mati-Dmitri Terestal were detained on suspicion of violating international sanctions and sanctions imposed by the Estonian government.

The Public Prosecutor's Office requested that Cherysheva be taken into custody, but the court did not grant the request. Since November 2022, the suspect has been subjected to a preventive measure, the conditions of which allowed her to leave Estonia for a short period of time, and at the end of 2022 Cherysheva left for Russia without returning to Estonia.

Since January 2023, Elena Cherysheva's name can be found on the list of wanted persons of the Estonian police, but she has not been declared wanted through international channels.