Estonia soldiers receive new guarantees

Dec 03, 2008
TBT staff in cooperation with BNS

TALLINN - The Estonian parliament on Dec. 3 unanimously passed an amendment to the Defense Forces Service Act, increasing the social guarantees of soldiers who have fallen ill or have been injured in service and their close relatives.

According to the amendment, members of the defense forces who have fallen ill or have been wounded in the line of duty will be retroactively paid from May 1, a monthly subsidy equal to the foreign mission pay.

Defense Minister Jaak Aaviksoo said payment of the foreign mission remuneration to a member of the defense forces who has fallen ill or has been wounded while on mission will currently stop after his return home, as a result of which his income will fall considerably. According to the ammendment, soldiers will be ensured payment of the foreign mission remuneration until the end of the mission term, generally six months.

The act will also extend the leave given for the rehabilitation of a soldier while he is being paid service remuneration.

The package also inclucdes compensation to defense forces close relatives.

Since 2007, five Estonian soldiers have been killed and 46 wounded while on a mission in Iraq or Afghanistan.