FT: Estonia moves troops closer to Russia over threat of invasion and buys weapons with a range of 300 km

Estonia is permanently moving its main combat brigade closer to the border with Russia, so that in the event of an invasion, it can strike deep into Russian territory.

This is reported by the Financial Times, citing Estonian officials.

The media notes that the country is moving to a strategy of "active defense": in the event of an invasion, it plans to fight for territory from the very border and from day one strike Russian targets far behind the front line.

The main combat brigade is being relocated from Tapa to Yekhvi, 50 km from the Russian border. And a base for another 1 000 soldiers is being built directly in the border city of Narva.

Moreover, the Estonian military and intelligence do not believe that Moscow wants a major war with NATO in the next two years. At the same time, they say that deterrence is not working, and the critical period for the Baltic states is the next 1-4 years.

The biggest fear in Estonia is a limited attack on Narva, a small, predominantly Russian-speaking city. This could test whether NATO is ready to defend an ally and try to split the Alliance.

Russian state media regularly calls Estonia “Russophobic”, and the Kremlin has even threatened the country with a nuclear strike if it deploys NATO nuclear weapons on its territory.

Estonia has up to 230 000 trained reservists but only 4 200 permanent troops. Over the past year, the country has signed contracts for nine American HIMARS with M57 missiles with a range of up to 300 km and the same number of South Korean Chunmoo missiles with a similar range, and has also increased its defense budget by 42%.

Separately, Estonia is preparing for a scenario after the war in Ukraine ends: Russia could then deploy tens of thousands of battle-hardened soldiers to the Baltics.

“We were afraid of the war [in Ukraine]. Now we are afraid of its end,” said an Estonian intelligence officer.

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