Herem: Russia will attack us when it is known that it will meet no resistance | Estonia
“We are a frontline country. We have no opportunity to play behind. Our nose is opposite aggressive Russia, and our tail is only 300 kilometers away. All this is within the reach of one aggressive country,” said Herem.
According to Herem, one should not count on the fact that if Estonia does not invest in defense capabilities, the eastern neighbor will leave us alone.
“There are different opinions. According to this idea, in order to prevent a Russian attack, we could save on defense spending and live in any military alliances and quietly. I personally believe that Russia will attack us when it is known that it will meet no resistance” – said the head of the Defense Forces.
According to Herem, one should also not think that if Estonia acquires long-range anti-aircraft missile systems (SAM), Russia will find in this an additional reason to attack us.
Long-range systems can attack that we can attack, for example, airfields from which planes arrive and approach the homes of our civilians. some target within Estonia.
Before the March elections, the party party presented its national defense programs, and the special part that spoke about the air defense situation is sometimes emotional and is not limited to limited consumption, Herem.
“The questions are what kind of air defense is needed. They forget that air defense begins with observation, which are then needed and various air defense systems, in particular, control of up to 762 machine gun installations, perhaps we are the most effective for shooting down any drones. Then only large-caliber machine gun installations or man-portable air defense systems that can be shot down by drones or cruise missiles, and only then medium or long-range air defense.
This is necessary when planning the national security of Estonia.
NATO division headquarters works
To the question of the leader of the transition, Arp Muller, when the NATO command and control structure will be ready in Estonia, Herem replied that it is already ready.
“The structure is ready to go there, it is about 60 people, about 2,000 people, about 2,000 divisional headquarters. /…/ Yes, people are working. Most of them are from different, including from the headquarters of the Defense Forces. They really work,” Harem replied.