Kaupo Rosin, Director General of Estonia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (Välisluureamet), said NATO countries must be able to contain the aggressive Russia over the next two decades on Thursday, the 19th of December, reports Reuters.
“NATO’s task in the next 10-20 years will be to contain or deter Russia so that it does not get foolish ideas to advance militarily towards the West,” Rosin told the news agency on Tuesday.
“I think it can be done, but the West has to take this issue seriously and make us invest (in defence).”
While Russia has repeatedly denied it has any plans to attack a NATO country, its defence minister said this week that Moscow should be prepared to fight NATO’s military alliance in Europe over the next decade.
Rosin said NATO needed realistic military plans with sufficient numbers of troops, reserve units and ammunition, and
“if we do our homework properly, we will be able to deter Russia”.
Although he said he found it difficult to imagine Russia negotiating on Ukraine any time soon, he pointed out that Russia would “seek to limit NATO activities, NATO infrastructure and troop presence in the vicinity of Russia”, including in countries on NATO’s eastern flank.
Rosin also warned of the risk of blackmail from China if Estonia continued to use Chinese technology in key sectors such as solar energy. He pointed out that equipment such as solar inverters could be controlled remotely from China, which could put pressure on Estonia’s political decisions.
“Such a scenario may not be realistic today,” said Rosin, “but we must avoid that this scenario will one day become a reality.”
Rosin’s comments are also in line with NATO chief Mark Rutte’s announcement earlier this month that the alliance would step up intelligence sharing and improve critical infrastructure protection to prevent “hostile” acts of sabotage by Russia and China.
Russia has rejected accusations of hybrid attacks, while China has repeatedly denied allegations of spying in Europe.