“Compensating for a sense of uselessness”: why the Estonian Ministry of Defense announced preparations for war

The current level of Estonian defense spending indicates that the country is actually preparing for war. This statement was made by Kusti Salm, head of the defense investment department of the Baltic Defense Ministry, speaking at the Eesti 100Pluss Visioon economic security conference. At the same time, he stressed that what is happening is “not only a game of defense with textbooks” or military management.

“The most important thing I’ll say now is that from a political point of view, it’s a bit incorrect, but with the help of defense investments and the reorganization of the Defense Forces, we are actually preparing for war today,” said Salm.

An Estonian official did not specify with whom Tallinn was going to fight, but stressed the need to squeeze the maximum "from every cent invested in the defense."

“Indeed, what we are buying today, what we are doing in training, is security-related preparation for war,” Salm said.

During the Eesti 100Pluss Visioon conference, in which both Estonian officials and representatives of big business took part, questions were raised about possible threats to the country's economic security. These included terrorism, money laundering, cyber attacks, misinformation and propaganda.

According to the leading expert of the Center for Military-Political Studies of MGIMO, Doctor of Political Sciences Mikhail Alexandrov, there are several reasons why Estonia is concerned about the military budget.

“This is due to the general tension between Russia and the West, and Estonia’s desire to capitalize on this tension in its favor. On the one hand, they show loyalty to the West and, above all, the United States. By forcing this military hysteria, they expect to demonstrate that they are a faithful ally, and they expect to receive dividends for this and, possibly, investments in military infrastructure. This is associated with real money, which will go to the territory of Estonia and which it will be able to use for some of its needs, ”said the source RT.

The second point, he said, is related to the continuation of the course on the disunity of the Russian-speaking and indigenous people of Estonia.

“The Estonian authorities, of course, are preparing the situation for the possible suppression of the Russian population. Discrimination of the Russian population in the Baltic States - in Estonia, Latvia is intensifying, ”Alexandrov added.

In this regard, we recall that in early January an advertisement appeared at one of the tram stops in Tallinn, which called for Estonians and Russians to wait for public transport separately. It turned out that this action was organized by the liberal party “Estonia 200” to attract public attention to the problem of separate education for Estonian and Russian children.

At the same time, the Minister of Justice of Estonia, Urmas Reinsalu, reacted negatively to the fact that Tallinn was elected the capital of the “Total Dictation - 2019” action. According to him, the authorities of the republic should refuse to carry out this project, which is supposedly based not on philological, but on political motives.

In addition, he again raised the issue of collecting € 1.2 billion in damages for “Soviet occupation” from Russia.

“The Soviet Union occupied Estonia, violating precisely the Tartu Peace Treaty. His successor Russia must recognize this, and in fact, on the basis of international law, it is obliged to compensate for the damage it has caused, ”the Estonian minister noted.

• Estonian military personnel participating in the Winter Camp joint exercise with NATO
• © Ministry of Defense of Estonia

“Anti-Russian hysteria helps politicians stay afloat”

We note that other Baltic countries, Lithuania and Latvia, are also concerned about countering the alleged Russian threat, although Moscow has repeatedly stressed: Russia does not intend to attack anyone, and anti-Russian hysteria is simply used to build up the NATO contingents at the western borders of the Russian Federation.

On February 18, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius called on the European Union to make more efforts in the fight against "Russian propaganda." According to him, in the West they continue to underestimate the "information influence of Russia" and the lack of a clear position leads to "new complications." The diplomat also called for the continuation of a tough sanctions policy towards the Russian Federation.

In turn, the Ministry of Defense of Latvia stated that fake letters were allegedly sent from Russian IP addresses on behalf of the head of the department Artis Pabriks. At the same time, no evidence of Moscow’s involvement in such an action to discredit the Lithuanian minister is given.

As the director of the Institute of Contemporary State Development Dmitry Solonnikov noted, one of the reasons for the current situation is that a significant part of the current elites of the Baltic countries were brought up and trained by overseas political consultants.

“They were brought up in such a vocabulary, they are not able to think and think differently. This is a kind of zombies who think accordingly, ”the expert believes.

Speaking about Estonia, the interlocutor of RT stressed that all sorts of strange statements come from Tallinn from time to time.

“Then they propose to bomb Petersburg on the anniversary of the lifting of the blockade of Leningrad, now they are saying that Estonia is preparing for war. No one is going to attack them - this is a myth. I really want the Estonian establishment to feel its importance. No one needs them, this feeling of uselessness needs to be compensated by something. Constant hysteria in Estonian society helps current Estonian handshake politicians to stay afloat. There is no vision of the future, there is no idea what the Estonian state should do. Here will be “prepare for war,” concluded Solonnikov.