Estonia completes largest military exercise as fears of Russia increase

Russia's display of military muscle during last week's VE Day celebrations may have looked menacing to observers in Washington, London and Berlin – but for the people of Estonia it was a chilling reminder of their country's ongoing vulnerability.

No surprise, then, that Estonia has just completed its largest ever military exercise and will continue to invest heavily in national security as a statement of intent to its Russian neighbours.

Estonia (population 1.3 million) joined Nato more than 10 years ago and is one of only four member states to spend the recommended 2% of GDP on defence (the other three are the US, the UK and Greece).

"Hopefully we will never have to find out what real war is like, but these exercises give us a sense of the acuteness of the situation," said Luukas Ilves, an Estonian third lieutenant reservist who was called up by the Estonian Defence Forces to take part in the training.

Wearing a camouflage uniform and face paint, Ilves – the son of Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves and an American mother – says: "After the exercise, we'll be as ready as we can be as a reserve army."

Ready – and armed. Cannons, Mistral surface-to-air missiles and Browning machine guns were all tested during the exercises, which were attended by Newsweek.

Thanks to other countries' military downsizing, the Estonian Defence Forces have acquired a considerable amount of modern equipment at a discount rate and have also been buying more new equipment, including a recent purchase of 80 Javelin systems from the United States.

This was Estonia's first military exercise involving all its reservists since its re-independence in 1991. In total, around 13,000 reservists, active-duty troops and conscripts participated. With the country's standing army comprising only 3,200 men, reservists play a more important role in Estonia than they would in most other Western countries.

"This is a hugely important exercise for us," said Lieutenant-General Riho Terras, the Commander of the Estonian Defence Forces. "Our allies are participating, but this time, our focus is on our national defence forces."

And those forces practising air defence on the coast of the Gulf of Finland seemed proud to be involved.

Spread out along the coast were some 500 young men (and the occasional young woman) wearing new uniforms. They were targeting aeroplanes flying in the distance at a speed of 40 metres per second.

A Belgian platoon consisting of 45 active-duty soldiers and officers joined the reservists to train with them. In total, more than 600 troops from other Nato countries were involved.

The Nato connection is, of course, Estonia's real defence. Nato fighter jets now patrol its air space and that of Latvia and Lithuania, and if Estonia were attacked, its Nato allies would come to its defence.

But exercises such as this one earn respect among Estonia's allies. And send a clear signal to Moscow.

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