Col. Urmas Roosimagi, 41, was replaced by Col. Mart Tiru, 56, just
five months after Roosimagi gained the post as acting chief of the
Estonian army. Lt. Gen. Johannes Kert, the permanent commander, is
currently taking an advanced military training course in the United
States. He is expected to return to Estonia in June.
The president, who is supreme commander of the state defense forces,
said the primary reason for dismissing Roosimagi was to step up
Estonia's efforts to integrate into NATO. The local media, however,
have hinted that top-ranked NATO officials urged the president to
replace Roosimagi because of his alleged anti-NATO stance.
The weekly newspaper Eesti Ekspress reported late last week that Meri
received a letter from Brussels in December describing Roosimagi's
negative attitude toward the alliance. The secret letter was
supposedly sent by Col. Vello Loemaa, Estonia's permanent military
representative at NATO, the newspaper said, crediting an unidentified
source at the defense forces for the information.
Information that has not been approved for release to the press or is
released anonymously is forbidden by the defense forces, according to
law. "If there is a reference to an information leak from
headquarters, it would be correct to refer to the concrete person who
released the information.
Otherwise, it boils down to distribution of rumors or fantasy,"a
defense forces spokesman told the Baltic News Service.
Roosimagi denied the accusations that he does not support accession.
"As a military man, I see the path to NATO in an efficient national
defense system. We need to do our homework. I wouldn't want Estonia's
road to NATO to go through a Potemkin village or some kind of pretty
paperwork,"he told the daily newspaper Postimees. He also said he had
considered resigning from his post as acting commander in November or
December last year, and even suggested it to the defense minister,
Juri Luik. He blamed his dismissal by the president on politics.
"Politicians have one set of rules, and the military have a different
one,"he said.
Meri explained that the main emphasis of the defense forces in the
coming months is to secure relations with partner states and to begin
to fulfil the membership action plan for accession to the Western
military alliance. Estonia hopes to join the international security
force in the next four to five years.
"It is our task to use this period with maximum efficiency,"Meri said.
The president also thanked Roosimagi for his service and for
guaranteeing a peaceful transition to the year 2000. He added that
the former acting commander was needed elsewhere by the state.
"The decision was necessitated by the need to apply your working and
organizing capability fully for the creation of an anti-aircraft
defense force,"Meri told Roosimagi in a statement released by the
office of the president.
Prime Minister Mart Laar backed Meri's decision and praised the new
acting commander. "Integration with NATO will be our most important
issue in the current year,"Laar told reporters on Jan. 4. "Col. Mart
Tiru is the strongest hand in matters concerning accession to NATO,
and this is where we have to look for reasons as to why the president
made such a decision."
Laar also said he was consulted by the president before Roosimagi's
dismissal. Members of the National Defense Council and Interior
Minister Tarmo Loodus were also told of the decision before it was
released publicly.
Before taking the assignment as acting commander of the defense
forces, Tiru was the commander of the foreign affairs department of
the general staff of defense forces. Like Roosimagi, Tiru graduated
from Soviet higher military schools and served in the Soviet army.
More recently, he has been directly involved with Estonian
peacekeeping missions in Bosnia, Croatia and Lebanon and was a member
of the Estonian delegation for talks with NATO.
Less than a week in his new job, Tiru has already set up a new
general staff division at the defense forces to plan and analyze
integration into NATO. Members of the staff had not yet been
disclosed at the press briefing.
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