Eerik-Niiles Kross

Eerik-Niiles Kross
Kross in 2013
Member of the Riigikogu
Incumbent
Assumed office
30 March 2015
Personal details
Born (1967-09-08) 8 September 1967 (age 57)
Tallinn, Estonia
Political partyEstonian Reform
SpouseMary Jordan
Parent(s)Jaan Kross
Ellen Niit

Eerik-Niiles Kross (born 8 September 1967) is an Estonian politician, diplomat, former chief of intelligence and entrepreneur. He is a member of parliament (Riigikogu). During the 1980s, Kross was a prominent figure in the anti-Soviet non-violent resistance movement in Soviet Estonia. After re-independence, in 1991, he joined Estonia's Foreign Ministry. He served as the head of intelligence from 1995 to 2000; and as national security advisor to former President Lennart Meri in 2000 and 2001.

Kross represented Estonia as a diplomat in the UK, from 1990 to 1992; then in the US from 1992 to 1995.[1]

Internationally, Kross is best known as a security expert, having worked in Iraq as a Senior Director of the Coalition Provisional Authority being responsible for creating the new Iraqi Ministry of Defense and Military Intelligence. He was an advisor to the Government of Georgia during and after its war with Russia in 2008. He coordinated the Georgian information campaign.[2][3]

As an observer of foreign affairs, Kross has published more than a 100 articles on Russian foreign policy, NATO and Estonian-Russian relations. Kross is a well known critic of the Russian foreign policy and the Russian head of state, Vladimir Putin.

In 2011, Russian authorities accused him of masterminding the 2009 hijacking of the MV Arctic Sea off the coast of Sweden.[2][3] The Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in Estonia, rejected this accusation as a fabrication by Russia's FSB.[4]

Kross joined the moderate-conservative IRL in November 2011, and was elected to the Party Executive. He served on the Advisory Board to the Ministry of Defense. In October 2014 Kross left the IRL and joined the liberal democratic Estonian Reform Party. At the Parliamentary Elections of 2015 he ran at the Reform Party ticket in the Tallinn 3rd district and won a seat in Parliament after the MEP Urmas Paet did not accept his mandate.

Kross has published several books and written scripts for documentary films. He wrote the script for the 2006 documentary, The Blue Hills (Sinimäed), which received the Estonian Cultural Foundation's Film of the Year Award;[5] also, special mention at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival.[6]

Kross is married to American filmmaker, Mary Jordan.[7]

  1. ^ Restsinski, Peeter (2003). "About the History of the Embassy in Washington". Second Coming (Teine Tulemine) (in Estonian). Tallinn. pp. 22–39. ISBN 9985-9364-4-2.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  2. ^ a b "Venemaa ootab Krossi ülekuulamisele". Eesti. 10 December 2011. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
  3. ^ a b Никифоров, Илья (24 October 2008). "Горячие парни на службе у Саакашвили". Независимая газета.
  4. ^ "Kross extradition request refused". Baltic News. January 2012.
  5. ^ Lauri, Vahur. "Eesti Kultuurkapital jagas aastapreemiaid" (in Estonian). Estonian Public Broadcasting, 27 January 2007.
  6. ^ Holloway, Ron. "10th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (1-10 December 2006). Festivalreports". Interfilm Akademie. Archived from the original on 19 July 2011. Retrieved 19 February 2012.
  7. ^ ERR, ERR, ERR News | (13 February 2019). "Mary Jordan: I am the one under attack". ERR. Retrieved 29 April 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)