Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Estonia

05/14/2023 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 05/14/2023 22:24

Estonia´s Defence Minister and Chief of Defence meet with SACEUR

Today, Minister of Defence of Estonia, Hanno Pevkur and Commander of Defence Forces, General Martin Herem met in Tallinn with NATO´s Supreme Allied Commander Europe, General Christopher Cavoli to discuss the security situation in the Baltic Sea region and topics related to the upcoming NATO Summit in Vilnius.

"It is of key importance for Estonia that the Vilnius Summit sends a strong message that deters Russia and implements the new NATO defence model agreed at the Madrid Summit. This means new defence plans, high-readiness troops, pre-positioned ammunition and a rotational air defence model," Pevkur said.

In recent months, NATO's military structures have been working on updating the Alliance's Regional Plans so that they correspond to the current security environment. The regional plans describe how the Alliance will defend itself against the two threats described in NATO's Strategic Concept and NATO's Military Strategy: Russia and terrorist groups.

"Our Regional Plans are geographically oriented plans to defend specific parts of NATO territory. They blend National Defence plans of our front line's nations into NATO plans, and this optimizes NATO's ability to move forces to the right place at the right time. This change will move us from an Alliance that was optimized for out-of-area contingency operations to an Alliance fit for the purpose of large-scale operations to defend every inch of the Alliance's territory and this is necessitated by the new realities we face," General Cavoli said.

According to Defence Minister Pevkur, real troops and capabilities are needed to implement defence plans to be confirmed at Vilnius Summit. "To implement all plans, it is inevitable that the member states also increase their defence expenditure, which is undoubtedly difficult in the current economic situation; but in the current security situation, the West must take the building of its military capabilities extremely seriously," Pevkur added.

NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) and its subordinate Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) are responsible for planning and conducting all NATO military operations.

Attached photo: Minister of Defence of Estonia, Hanno Pevkur and NATO´s Supreme Allied Commander Europe General Christopher Cavoli at a meeting at the Ministry of Defence in Tallinn.

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