Estonia's defense posture must be so good Kremlin won't even think of attacking us

TALLINN - Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said in an interview to Postimees that Estonia must attain such firm defense posture that Russia will not even think of attacking Estonia.

Kallas said that Estonia is well defended at the moment.

"It means that we have our own defense and collective NATO defense. The situation has changed because thus far, everyone believed that Russia would not embark on such an aggression. Russia itself has also been ashamed of it. In Crimea, it was free will, and in Donbas, it was 'little green men' -- and each time, Russia's actions were forgiven. Therefore, a full-scale war in Ukraine is also a signal for us that our defense posture must switch from deterrence to defense. Thus far, the deterrence posture has worked, Russia has not attacked us," the Estonian prime minister said. 

Kallas noted that Estonia's goal for the NATO summit was to see the command structure of a division-sized unit established in Estonia, and that goal was met.

"It will have our own units in its composition, as well as the allied units deployed here and allied units in their homeland that will be ready to deploy here immediately to defend us," she said.

When asked how many years it will take for Estonia's new organization of defense to become satisfactory, the head of government said it should take one year.

"We have no time to wait. We've been entering into weapons procurements one after the other. Command chain is the most important thing -- who's giving orders to whom and how it will all come together," she added.

Estonia is prepared to fight off Russian forces already now.

"The question is how robustly we're ready to fight back. Our defense posture must be so firm that Russia won't even think of attacking us," Kallas said.