"At the suggestion of the deputy commander of the armed forces I hereby strip Deniss Metsavas of all his ranks," the president said in a published decree.
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The statement comes after retired Maj. Deniss Metsavas and his father Pjotr Volin were sentenced respectively to 15 and a half years and 6 months in jail in February, allegedly for passing secrets to the Russian military intelligence GRU.
The two men were arrested last September. Metsavas served with the Estonian armed forces since 1998 and was promoted to major in 2015, while his father was a former Soviet border guard.
