Fortunately, peace reigns in Estonia, the question is: how calm can each of us feel in a restless world.
“In the global context, a clearly recognizable confrontation has arisen between the so-called democratic countries and authoritarian countries /…/ and this has created a pre-war atmosphere,” said former head of the defense forces, General Riho Terras.
“An Estonian can feel safe in his own home while waiting for the end of the year. /…/ But in general we cannot rest easy, because the big picture of the world is still quite complicated,” Defense Minister Hanno said Pevkur.
Helping Ukraine win and building its strength were the central themes for the second consecutive year.
“The Estonian Defense Forces are in better condition than they have ever been. If we take land defense, where we doubled our land defense capacity during the Ussivödtes exercise, Estonia is the largest buyer of ammunition in Europe in absolute terms. This shows that things are not the best in Europe, but we do the right things,” Pevkur said.
“I am sure that we have the capabilities that we urgently need and that today we do not have enough of them. Just as the whole of Europe is without ammunition, Estonia is a little better, but there are still definitely shortages. /. ../ In fact, we should seriously think more about how to increase Estonia’s air defense through allies, that is, the air security mission should become an air defense mission, which it is not today. And also the presence of ground forces in Estonia could be at least the size of a brigade, as the Germans did in Lithuania,” Terras said.
While the Estonian government tries to balance the budget and find teachers’ salaries, Russia invests a third of its budget in the war machine. Unfortunately, living next to such a neighbor, Estonia would have to produce even more Atras weapons, and 3% of gross domestic product (GDP) is not enough, according to supporters of national defense.
“If I only follow the military advice of the Chief of Defense Forces, military defense spending could be around 4.5%. /…/ But we have to take into account the capabilities of Estonian taxpayers, we also have other areas that need development,” Pevkur said.
“In my opinion, we should seriously think about the possibility of taking out a possible loan, either a national defense loan or national defense bonds, which citizens who want to contribute to the security of their country could acquire,” Terras noted.
In early October, damage was reported to the Balticconnector pipeline connecting Estonia to Finland. The weekend in early October was stormy. The Elering switchboard operator woke the prime minister, Kalle Kilgi, at half past four in the morning.
“The first thoughts were in dark tones. The first question was whether it was part of a larger plan. We still don’t know whether it was a plan or a complete coincidence. In the conditions of a hybrid war, a perfect plan is also one that no one doesn’t understand whether it’s a plan or something else,” Kilk said.
The main suspect became the Chinese ship Newnew Polar Bear, the anchor of which dragged to the bottom of the sea, the investigation has not yet reached a final conclusion.
However, the damage to the gas pipe and communication cables has once again brought our vulnerability to society’s consciousness.
“We’ve already done risk assessments in our company for just this kind of thing. The methods have changed. And the probability of this risk materializing has also changed a little. Before the probability was quite a bit lower, the risk itself was the same “We have now estimated that the probability has increased, so the countermeasures we need to introduce may be more expensive and still pay off,” Kilk explained.
“It is important for us to agree with the state on a slightly broader plan on how to organize the protection of our infrastructure. It is clear that private companies will not create their own security army, the so-called Gazprom army, using the analogy,” he added .
At the end of the year, the pipeline is still out of service, but several of our allied warships, such as the British frigate Richmond, are patrolling near important infrastructure sites in the Baltic Sea to raise our awareness of what is happening at sea and simply to show our presence.
“We actually know what is happening at sea, we know it as well as before. We are a little more present and we also have allies who move here more. What we are particularly happy about is that communication with our neighbors on the northern sea and west, as well as with our southern neighbors,” said Commodore Jüri Saska, Commander of the Navy.
The Baltic Sea is becoming a NATO inland sea, Finland became a NATO country this year. “It was like extra life insurance,” commented the Finnish ambassador to Estonia, Vesa Vasara.
Finland has thus crossed a high mental threshold after being alone in the Winter War and with the resulting distrust of international aid, the Finnish ambassador believes.
“For the foreign policy committee, Putin’s message, three months before the attack on Ukraine, that NATO should not expand further was important. He wanted to take away our freedom. At that moment the committee turned back. What was important for the foreign policy committee is what happened a few years ago on the occasion of Estonia’s independence day. However the country and the Finnish people were relatively ready,” Vasara said.
Finland was not deterred by the rupture of the gas pipeline or the migration attack organized by Russia. Finland also experienced the latter situation years ago, so the reaction has now been resolute. Concrete blocks also appeared on the Narva Bridge, but it was not possible to close the border here.
Finland’s membership in NATO has also significantly increased Estonia’s security.
“Especially the navy cooperation works well. /…/ Bilateral cooperation has always been intimate, not everything is discussed publicly, but the generals visit Tallinn, I know this very well,” Vasara said.
Hopefully, Sweden’s membership in NATO will be good news for the new year.
2023-12-30 17:32:00
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