Estonian Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur has resigned, accepting political responsibility after a state defence agency paid nearly €70 million upfront to an Indian-owned Italian company that had never previously sold an artillery shell, in a procurement intended to supply ammunition to Ukraine.


Pevkur announced his resignation on September 2 as revelations surrounding the failed procurement intensified a broader crisis over financial oversight within Estonia’s defence establishment, according to Estonian World.


The Estonian Centre for Defence Investments (ECDI), the state agency responsible for defence procurement, signed four contracts with Datasel S.R.L., a small Italian company that had been acquired by an Indian defence business. The agency subsequently paid about €70 million in advance for artillery shells intended for Ukraine.


The ammunition was never delivered to Ukraine. Estonia is now pursuing the company through the Estonian courts and international arbitration in an effort to recover the funds.


Pevkur, a senior figure in the governing Reform Party, said he was accepting political responsibility despite insisting that he did not consider the failures to be personal.


“A leader must have both the courage and the stature to accept responsibility,” he told Estonian Television’s current-affairs programme Aktuaalne kaamera. “I am ready to accept responsibility; I do accept it and the prime minister must find a new defence minister.”


Pevkur later told Estonian outlet Delfi that it had become apparent that he no longer had the support of a parliamentary majority.


He will remain in office until a successor is appointed. A replacement is expected to be named after the Estonian parliament returns from its summer recess on September 14.


The resignation followed an investigation by Estonian weekly Eesti Ekspress into the ammunition contracts, as well as a critical report by the National Audit Office examining the management of funds and assets by the Defence Ministry, the ECDI and the Estonian Defence Forces.


Pevkur had served as defence minister since 2022.


By Tamilla Hasanova