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02-06-2024, 03:58 PM
We have no Plan B if Ukraine falls, says Estonia
Estonian forces have been working closely with Nato since Russian invasion 2years ago. Estonia considers front-line state, a Nato member where its border guards stare across Narva River at the Russian fortress of Ivangorod, tiny Baltic state, once a part of Soviet Union, is convinced that once the fighting stops in Ukraine, Putin will turn his attention to Baltics, looking to bring countries like Estonia back under Moscow’s control.
To help stave off possibility, Estonia’s govt has poured money,weapons into Ukraine’s war effort, donating more than 1% of its GDP to Kyiv. If every Nato country did this," Estonia’s steely PM Kaja Kallas, "Ukraine would win." But Ukraine isn’t winning. Short of artillery, ammunition, air defences & most of all, troops, Ukraine is struggling to hold back the sheer weight of Russian firepower, glide bombs and massed infantry assaults that often border on the suicidal.
What, I asked PM Kallas, is Estonia’s Plan B if Ukraine loses this war & Russia’s invasion ultimately succeeds?. We have no Plan B for a Russian victory," she replies, "b'cos we would stop focussing on Plan A" - helping Ukraine push back the Russian invasion. "We should not give in to pessimism. Victory in Ukraine is not just about territory. If Ukraine joins Nato, even without some territory, then that’s a victory because it will be placed under the Nato umbrella."
Kaja Kallas is controversial. She is not 1st national leader to be more popular outside their country than within. Born a Soviet citizen, her mother & grandmother were forcibly deported to Siberia.
Now 46 & PM since 2021, she is one of the most hawkish leaders in Nato when it comes to blunting Kremlin’s ambitions in Euro. That has spooked some in White House that she risks dragging the West into direct conflict with Moscow.
Existential threat from Russia
Many Estonians are also less happy at taxes being raised to pay for their contribution to Ukraine’s defence. But Kaja Kallas wants the West to wake up to what she sees as an existential threat from a newly aggressive Russia.
"Russia wants to sow fear in our societies," sitting in cabinet office in Estonia’s. "We see different hybrid attacks in many parts of EU.""Hybrid attacks", known as "sub-threshhold" or "grey zone" warfare, hostile suspected of being carried out by an adversary such as Russia federation where shots are necessarily fired or killed & blame is often hard to pin - yet damage can be extensive. Such threats report, "aim to create psychological & emotional tension targeting the most vulnerable threatening safety of children.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c722zxj0kyro
Estonian forces have been working closely with Nato since Russian invasion 2years ago. Estonia considers front-line state, a Nato member where its border guards stare across Narva River at the Russian fortress of Ivangorod, tiny Baltic state, once a part of Soviet Union, is convinced that once the fighting stops in Ukraine, Putin will turn his attention to Baltics, looking to bring countries like Estonia back under Moscow’s control.
To help stave off possibility, Estonia’s govt has poured money,weapons into Ukraine’s war effort, donating more than 1% of its GDP to Kyiv. If every Nato country did this," Estonia’s steely PM Kaja Kallas, "Ukraine would win." But Ukraine isn’t winning. Short of artillery, ammunition, air defences & most of all, troops, Ukraine is struggling to hold back the sheer weight of Russian firepower, glide bombs and massed infantry assaults that often border on the suicidal.
What, I asked PM Kallas, is Estonia’s Plan B if Ukraine loses this war & Russia’s invasion ultimately succeeds?. We have no Plan B for a Russian victory," she replies, "b'cos we would stop focussing on Plan A" - helping Ukraine push back the Russian invasion. "We should not give in to pessimism. Victory in Ukraine is not just about territory. If Ukraine joins Nato, even without some territory, then that’s a victory because it will be placed under the Nato umbrella."
Kaja Kallas is controversial. She is not 1st national leader to be more popular outside their country than within. Born a Soviet citizen, her mother & grandmother were forcibly deported to Siberia.
Now 46 & PM since 2021, she is one of the most hawkish leaders in Nato when it comes to blunting Kremlin’s ambitions in Euro. That has spooked some in White House that she risks dragging the West into direct conflict with Moscow.
Existential threat from Russia
Many Estonians are also less happy at taxes being raised to pay for their contribution to Ukraine’s defence. But Kaja Kallas wants the West to wake up to what she sees as an existential threat from a newly aggressive Russia.
"Russia wants to sow fear in our societies," sitting in cabinet office in Estonia’s. "We see different hybrid attacks in many parts of EU.""Hybrid attacks", known as "sub-threshhold" or "grey zone" warfare, hostile suspected of being carried out by an adversary such as Russia federation where shots are necessarily fired or killed & blame is often hard to pin - yet damage can be extensive. Such threats report, "aim to create psychological & emotional tension targeting the most vulnerable threatening safety of children.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c722zxj0kyro
