NATO Pledges To Help Estonia If Security Crisis Escalates In Region

NATO is ready to defend Estonia and other allies in the event of an escalation of the volatile security situation in the region, the press service of the Estonian Defense Ministry said on Thursday, citing the US European Command (EUCOM)

HELSINKI (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 09th December, 2021) NATO is ready to defend Estonia and other allies in the event of an escalation of the volatile security situation in the region, the press service of the Estonian Defense Ministry said on Thursday, citing the US European Command (EUCOM).

EUCOM Commander Gen. Tod Wolters arrived in Tallinn earlier in the week and met on Wednesday with Estonian Defense Minister Kalle Laanet to discuss security issues in the region. In an interview with Bloomberg, Laanet said that the escalation of the situation around Ukraine is causing the biggest rise of tensions in the Baltic countries for the past 30 years.

"We are witnessing the most volatile security crisis on NATO's eastern borders in decades. With Russia's continuing military build-up in and around Ukraine, supplemented by Belarussian hybrid attack against our regional Allies, it is necessary to demonstrate the Alliance's readiness to defend any Ally," the ministry quoted Laanet in a statement.

Wolters, in turn, expressed NATO's readiness "to defend each and every Ally" and noted that the bloc's Enhanced Forward Presence and the Baltic Air Policing mission in Estonia are "a clear demonstration of Allied commitment and solidarity," according to the ministry.

The Enhanced Forward Presence is the Alliance's program to increase its presence in Eastern Europe to counter Russia. The allied forces are stationed on the territory of the four eastern NATO members � Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. Estonia has hosted 1,200 NATO combat troops since April 2017.