Another country afraid of Russia? "We will all be run down"

Another country afraid of Russia? "We will all be run down"

That would have happened in line with NATO's current plans to defend the country from any Russian attack, the Estonian prime minister said.

Kaja Kallas told reporters on Wednesday that the alliance's existing defense plans for the three Baltic states is such that it will allow them to be overrun before they are released after 180 days, the Financial Times reports.

Noting that more than 100 days have passed since Russia launched a comprehensive invasion of Ukraine, the Prime Minister pointed out: "If you compare the size of Ukraine and the Baltic countries, it would mean the complete destruction of countries and our culture."

"Those of you who have been to Tallinn and know our old city and the centuries of history and culture that are here - all that would have been erased from the map, including our citizens, our nation," she added.

Her comments come ahead of NATO's summit in Madrid next Tuesday, where members of the alliance will discuss plans to defend their eastern wing in the light of the war, including the question of how to better defend the Baltic states.

Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are in favor of the current strategy of having thousands of foreign troops in each country, which will act as a 'tripwire force' (a force far smaller than that of a potential adversary) , even if the 'trivial' force itself cannot provide lasting resistance), thus replacing the forces that NATO will try to defend from the first day every part of the territory of those countries, especially after the countries witnessed the events in Ukraine attributed to Russian forces.

Commenting on what she called NATO's plan to "get lost and then liberate", she said that the crimes allegedly committed by Russian soldiers in the Ukrainian city of Bucha took place 80 days after the invasion began. "Now everyone sees that such a concept doesn't really work," Kallas said.

She added that she had talked to foreign troops stationed in Estonia - mostly those from the UK, confirming that they are not "willing to die"... Kallas demands that military troops, which would make up between 20.000 and 25.000 NATO soldiers, be deployed to Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

"But, she says, that does not mean that all these troops will be foreign or will have to be permanently stationed in every country. Thousands of Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian soldiers will be included in perhaps one brigade - along with 3.000 to 5.000 soldiers - of foreign troops stationed within the country, and in time it will increase to two brigades", she said.