Estonia carefully observes military developments in Russia

TALLINN - Estonian Defense Ministry chancellor Mikk Marran said while speaking at the higher state defense courses on Tuesday that Estonia carefully observes military developments in Russia, Public Broadcasting reports.

Marran said that the continued increase of military presence of Russia in the Baltic Sea region stresses the need to strengthen the intelligence and advance warning ability of Estonia.

Marran said that Estonia's security has never been as well protected as it is today. "At the same time our intelligence institutions have a good review of Russia having increased its military presence in the Baltic Sea region recently, forming new units and strengthening the existing ones, carrying out several large exercises and considerably supplementing armament," Marran said.

Marran said that such developments understandably cause questions to emerge. "We are aware of that together with our allies and we take it into consideration in our defense planning. We will in the future also observe attentively the developments in our neighborhood, we continue to be active at the international arena, consult with our allies and continue developing our intelligence and advance warning ability," said Marran.