Estonian defense minister: Nato's battalion is for deterrence not a military race with Russia

Estonia's Defense Minister Hannes Hanso asserted that the recent summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Warsaw has taken a positive decision by sending a battalion of 1,000 personnel to his country, noting that its deployment is for deterrence and has nothing to do with the military competition with Russia.

In statements to a delegation of international reporters, Hanso said recent NATO decisions came as a response to the Russian military reinforcements in the region after decades of the end of the cold war, noting that Estonia's defense budget reached euros 450 million representing only 2 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country.

He said only five NATO members, including US, UK, Greece, Poland, Estonia, have increased their military spending as a reaction to the Russian military movement in Ukraine.

Answering a question by MENA on the movement of vessels by Russia and NATO in the Black Sea and the Baltic, Hanso said there are vessels from Germany, Poland, Britain, the US and Denmark which are making regular patrols at the Baltic along with the Estonian Navy with the aim of maintaining the security and stability of the region.

Source: MENA