Wary of Russia, Estonian volunteers rush to join militia

[Valin]

Reuters:

PALA, Estonia David Mardiste

Sept. 14 2015

 

Members of Estonia's part-time militia crouch in a sandy trench on a hilltop as machine gun fire echoes through rain washed forest. Russia may be some way off but it is wariness of a vast neighbour that is swelling the force's ranks, drawing labourers and office workers alike to a gruelling exercise. The Defence League of the Baltic State has grown 10 percent to almost 16,000 soldiers since Russian President Vladimir Putin's annexation of Crimea last year and support for rebels in eastern Ukraine raised security fears in the small NATO nation. "Young people today want to do their bit for the defence of their country," medic Riho Mannik, 35, said near a dug-in mortar position during the exercise of 700 volunteers, near the village of Pala 160 kms (100 miles) from the Russian border.

 

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The Kremlin denies Western charges it fomented rebellion in Russian-speaking eastern Ukraine. But Tallinn fears the Kremlin could incite unrest among Estonia's own ethnic Russian, who account for some 25 percent of the population, concentrated in Tallinn and around Narva near the border. Its fears are shared by the other Baltic states ruled from Moscow from World War Two until 1991 - Lithuania and Latvia. Weary after a night in early September camping out in the rain in teams of attackers and defenders, an assault on the hilltop starts with simulated 81 mm mortar rounds and bursts of machinegun and small arms fire - all blanks.

 

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In the first half of this year, the number of soldiers in the Defence League, under the command of the Estonian Ministry of Defence and military HQ, rose by 504 to 15,577. Numbers surged by 935 in 2014, almost all after Russia's annexation of Crimea in March. By contrast, just 324 people joined in all of 2013. With an ageing, declining population of just 1.3 million, the regular Estonian defence forces have around 3,200 professional personnel. Estonia is one of few NATO nations to spend a NATO goal of two percent of gross domestic product on defence. The smallest of the three Baltic countries, Estonia has maintained conscription for men over 18 since independence from the former Soviet Union in 1991, so it has a reserve of 60,000 who have completed basic military training.

 

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