Senior Course 116 continued their Summer Field Study with a visit to Tallinn on Monday 14 June. They were welcomed by Lt Gen Ants Laaneots, Chief of Defence, Estonia, who briefed them on the structure and tasks of the Estonian Defence Forces, the long term development plan, and the country’s energy security, Estonia being an important transit corridor from Moscow to Europe. He also addressed defence policy, plans and goals, general defence structure, and the Defence League as a voluntary defence organization. In the discussion period after his presentation, Lt Gen Laaneots answered questions on Baltic cooperation in the field of security and the Russian minority population in Estonia.
The second lecture was delivered by Mr Sven Mikser, Head of the Estonian Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee, who explained the security situation from both a parliamentary and a historical viewpoint and summarized Estonia’s current security and defence policy and its background. The new Russian assertiveness was one of his focal points, but he also dwelled on the Estonian view of NATO. During the question and answer period, Mr Mikser dealt with issues such as current relations between Estonia and Russia, Estonian interest in the new NATO Strategic Concept, cyber security and the usefulness of articles 4 and 5 of the Washington Treaty.
The next speaker, Mr Sven Sakkov, Undersecretary for Defence Policy, explored Estonian Defence policy in greater detail in terms of both planning and implementation. He outlined the most important threats, particularly the new threats associated with cyber attacks and energy dependency, and examined the issue of collective defence in the light of the ‘Allbright report’. Mr Sakkov also gave his views on a visible, credible and capable NATO and on the Baltic Air Policing initiative in conjunction with NATO force goals. Again, gaining a better understanding of Estonia-Russia relations as well as the Estonian view of NATO-Russia relations was the main aim of most of the questions asked in the discussion period.
After lunch, Mr Harri Tiido, Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) and well known to the NDC, gave an in-depth analysis of Estonian security policy. A huge range of issues -Afghanistan and Estonian popular support, NATO enlargement and NATO-EU relations- were presented to the Course in a very lively manner, and were further elucidated during the Q&A session.
Mr Tiido’s presentation concluded a successful series of lectures and a very satisfying visit to Tallinn.
More about SC116 Summer Field Study:
First day – Italy
Second stop – London
Third step – The Hague
Forth leg of the trip – Moscow
Fifth visited city – Berlin
Sixth stop – Bergen
NDC Public Affairs Office
NATO Defense College