The Commander of the Estonian Defence Forces, Lieutenant General Andrus Merilo, has stated that there is too much and frequent hysterical news about the war in Estonia, but there is little constructive, informative debate about the current security situation, writes ERR News.
Merilo said in an interview with the magazine Sõdur that there is talk that Narva “will be next,” and this only strengthens the hysteria and does not reflect reality. He noted that the information space lacks accuracy: “That said, I know people do think for themselves and ask questions. Once it’s clearly understood what needs to be done, action is taken to ensure the basic conditions for preparedness are in place.”
According to Merillo, preparedness does not only mean preparing for a war situation, but also general readiness for crisis situations, such as power outages or extreme weather conditions.
The commander of the armed forces believes that hysteria about war is very counterproductive,
and people tend to panic about what they do not know – so it is important to be prepared in order to act more rationally. Merillo said that society needs a better understanding of how changes in the security situation can affect everyone. He stressed that it is necessary to talk about it: “Everyone needs to understand that peacetime is over. There’s a full-scale war underway in Europe. Which way things go from here depends partly on what we do. If we prepare for the worst-case scenarios, we will deter war. If we assume nothing will happen, we risk repeating the mistakes of history. War is not some rare historical anomaly — it’s a fairly regular occurrence. We need to approach it accordingly and stay calm.”
The Lieutenant General also stressed the importance of the Estonian Armed Forces in informing the public, and admitted that hysteria is currently taking over. When asked if Estonia could confront Russia on the battlefield, the commander replied that it would be very difficult for some, but Estonia is not alone, it is part of NATO. He said that Russia must understand that Estonia is strong enough, and there is no such thing as “three days to Tallinn,” such a plan would fail, just as it failed in Ukraine. The commander added that only Estonians themselves have the strength to present such an image.
Looking at Estonia’s geography, Merilo said that the situation is not as bleak as it seems, especially compared to some neighboring countries, and noted that everything is possible, you just need to apply the right solutions, and do it at the right time and effectively.
The war in Ukraine has largely confirmed what the Estonian armed forces have known for years: “If someone thinks we’re doing something fundamentally new, that’s not the case. We’ve long understood Russia’s military doctrine. However, it continues to evolve and we are now — perhaps for the first time in history — in a position where we have the potential resources to reach combat readiness before Russia does.”
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