Aleksei Dressen
{{Short description|Russian spy in Estonia}}
Aleksei Dressen (born 1968 in Riga{{Cite web |url=http://www.delfi.ee/news/paevauudised/eesti/dressenit-on-karistatud-ka-purjuspai-tootamise-ja-ametitoendi-kaotamise-eest.d?id=63960613 |title=Delfi: Dressen has been charged with working while under influence and losing his work ID |access-date=2012-03-26 |archive-date=2012-04-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120418151821/http://www.delfi.ee/news/paevauudised/eesti/dressenit-on-karistatud-ka-purjuspai-tootamise-ja-ametitoendi-kaotamise-eest.d?id=63960613 |url-status=dead }}) is a former Estonian Internal Security Service officer convicted for treason.{{Cite web |url=http://tv.delfi.ee/video/xUVCN8QW/ |title=Norman Aas: Possible traitor apprehended |access-date=2012-03-26 |archive-date=2012-02-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120229014916/http://tv.delfi.ee/video/xUVCN8QW/ |url-status=dead }} He was convicted with cooperating with Russian intelligence service FSB. He is an ethnic Volga German.[http://www.epl.ee/news/eesti/raivo-aeg-riigireetur-tegutses-aastaid.d?id=63962455 Raivo Aeg: Traitor operated for years]
Biography
During Soviet rule of Estonia, Aleksei Dressen worked as a policeman in the Soviet militia. In 1993 he started working for the reestablished Estonian Security Police. In 1994 he lost his police ID. A year later there was a disciplinary charge for wrongful conduct at work. This happened several times during his career. In 1999 his salary was cut by 30% for two months.
Despite all this Aleksei Dressen managed to become a director of several different units in the Estonian Security Police.{{Cite web |url=http://tv.delfi.ee/video/UpwFl185/ |title=Director: Dressens caught in airport |access-date=2012-03-26 |archive-date=2012-02-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120229014720/http://tv.delfi.ee/video/UpwFl185/ |url-status=dead }}
Aleksei Dressen and his wife Viktoria were arrested on the morning of 22 February 2012 at Tallinn Airport. Viktoria was about to board a flight to Moscow. During the arrest a thumb drive full of information was seized. The chief architect behind Dressen's capture is considered to be the deputy chief of the Estonian Security Police Aleksander Toots. In 2012 Dressen was sentenced to 16 years in prison.{{cite web | url=http://rus.err.ee/v/topnews/aa0097a7-712a-41e7-9677-31e93c6c2966 | title=Изменник родины Алексей Дрессен приговорен к 16 годам тюрьмы | publisher=ERR | date=2012-07-03 | accessdate=2015-03-04}}
On 26 September 2015, he was handed over to Russia in exchange for Eston Kohver.{{cite web|url=http://uudised.err.ee/v/eesti/ab687c31-89f5-4eff-9dc6-40e026bedb7e/interfax-eston-kohver-vahetati-aleksei-dresseni-vastu-valja|title=Eston Kohver vahetati Aleksei Dresseni vastu välja|language=Estonian|accessdate=26 September 2015}}{{cite web|url=http://news.err.ee/v/politics/5cbe0a4d-b999-4f55-a8d5-375c2f090a19/kohver-free-and-back-in-estonia|title=Kohver released and back in Estonia|accessdate=26 September 2015}} The prisoners were exchanged in a manner reminiscent of the Cold War spy exchanges on a bridge over Piusa River.