Nikolai Dashkevich. The head of Estonia Toomas Hendrik Ilves in an interview to British newspaper opined on the need to increase permanent NATO deployment of military in Estonia.
currently in Estonia on being a tank platoon of the 7th regiment of the 3rd infantry division of the U.S. army from 4 tanks M1A2 Abrams in conjunction with the crews, as well as two platoons of American paratroopers from the 173rd airborne brigade, a total of 150 soldiers.
"One infantry company of the USA, consisting of 150 soldiers, this is the only placed at this time in Estonia, a division of NATO forces And even they are here only for a time, we believe the only variant here in the future large military contingent," said Ilves.
at the NATO conference in Wales last year, a proposal was made to form a mobile group of operative reaction of 5 thousand soldiers, is able to quickly be deployed in the Baltic States in case of an emergency situation. However, According to Ilves, this is not enough.
"And for how long will they be here? For the week, five days? If you look at Russian military exercises, they begin suddenly. It will all be over for four hours, " - said the head of Estonia. According to Ilves, NATO should realize that the situation in the field of security has changed since 1997, And should be sent to the Baltic States at least one brigade.
before NATO reported the activity of the Russian air force in the European airspace, such as over the Baltic sea. Russian air force commander Colonel-General Viktor Bondarev called such news message "stuffing" designed to divert attention from the buildup of NATO forces close to Russia's borders.
in connection with the situation around Ukraine, NATO has adopted a number of measures, which explains the need to provide security of the participating countries. Were strengthened mission air patrol in the Baltic countries (in Alliance with 2004), the aircraft with radar equipment make regular flights over Poland (joined in 1999) And Romania (joined in 2004), the additional NATO ships in the Baltic And Mediterranean seas.
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