Like a scene from a movie: Russian Federation, Estonia exchange two prisoners on

Kohver, an officer when using the Estonian Internal Security Service, was at demanded to effectively 15 existence in penal complex on August 19 with a closed-door burden once convicted of spying and explicitly queering the Russian outer edge. Estonia said he was abducted on its side of the frontier but Russian Federation alleged that he had been caught on its territory carrying a pistol and ammunition, €5,000 (£3,690) in cash and spying equipment.

The swap took place on a bridge over the Piusa River that separates Russia’s western Pskov region and Estonia’s Polva county.

Estonian security officer Eston Kohver has been exchanged with Moscow for imprisoned Russian spy Aleksei Dressen.

The exchange comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin is due to address the UN General Assembly on September 28.

Stringer / ReutersEstonian security officer Eston Kohver attends a news conference in the premises of the security police (KAPO) in Tartu, Estonia, September 26. I would like to thank all those to whom my welfare was important, everyone who supported me.

Dressen was arrested at Tallinn airport along with his wife as he waited to board a plane to Moscow carrying what prosecutors described as classified documents. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison.

PM Taavi Rõivas, who turns 36 today, said the phone call from Pevkur was the best birthday present he could have imagined.

Russia’s secret service is reported to have claimed Dressen worked for Russian counter-intelligence since the 1990s, handing over information about United States and British spies working in the Baltic countries.

Saturday’s swap followed a deterioration in relations between the two countries, which have also been strained by Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea.