The Estonian head of state stressed that in the light of the activities of Russia and other authoritarian states, the Euro-Atlantic community needs a long-term strategy and provided a blueprint of its possible starting points. “First of all, the starting point of strategy cannot be related to the fear of any possible shocks that would hit Russia were it to lose the war. Second, NATO must implement a new defensive posture as soon as possible, one which requires a greater presence and advance deployment of weapons, equipment and ammunition. Third, we must not leave any grey zones in Europe. The only real security guarantee is NATO,” explained the Estonian head of state.
President Karis reminded that the hopes related to Russia did not realise in the late 80s nor in the early 90s. Instead, Russia has been given the opportunity to increase its control over emerging democracy and even expanded its imperialist ambitions, which has not contributed to global security in any way. “President Putin has repeatedly accused the West in particular of unleashing the war in Ukraine and acts in the belief that we are also part of this war. This proves that Russia's strategic goals have not changed in any way. Putin continues to want to dismantle the current Euro-Atlantic security arrangement and restore his hegemony in the Baltic states and over Poland,” President Karis emphasised.
He highlighted the contribution of the United States and Canada to common security in the Euro-Atlantic space and expressed his firm belief that Europe should contribute more to defence and increase military capabilities. “Estonia’s current priority is to establish a wartime division structure that would consist of national units and our allies. However, we should already start looking further and make more detailed plans regarding the NATO units that are to fight with us. Only this way we can achieve sufficient readiness. This is the only way of convincing the Kremlin that any military attack against NATO is destined to fail,” the head of state explained.
President Karis stressed that Ukraine's efforts to join NATO must be approached with all sincerity and seriousness. “NATO cannot respond to them with silence or by withdrawing from previous statements or promises. Naturally, Ukraine's membership will not materialise in the short term and under conditions of conflict. However, if we want to ensure peace in the Euro-Atlantic region and stability for the future, we must all have a more distant goal and common interests in mind,” said President Karis.
The head of state explained why Estonia has decided to provide considerable support to Ukraine, totalling a quarter of Estonia’s defence budget. “Estonia is convinced that Ukraine is fully able to deploy the assistance received from its Western allies and succeed in the war. Now, we must ensure Ukraine’s ability to sustain the progress made. It is inappropriate to assume that Ukraine will not be able to advance in the coming winter. We know from history that Finland fought in the Winter War and won. Therefore, we must continue to provide military aid to Ukraine and increase the cost of war to Russia,” explained the president at the opening session of Halifax International Security Forum.
The opening session of the forum was attended by Minister of National Defence of Canada Anita Anand, President of the World Uyghur Congress Dolkun Isa and United States Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D).
