In a phone call late last month, an Estonian minister begged a journalist to keep quiet about the details of a large shipment of surgical masks headed for the country. The contract had already been signed, Minister of Public Administration Jaak Aab explained. But on more than one previous occasion, supposedly done deals had evaporated after other countries offered higher prices, snatching crucial COVID-19 supplies away. “Deliveries are being hijacked,” Aab said in public.