in the worst case scenario, we evacuate the population abroad

According to Merilo, infrastructure – that is, roads, ports, bridges and railways – is of great importance to the defense of the country.

“NATO Article 3 is in some ways more important than the well-known and famous Article 5 on collective defense. Article 3 requires all countries to have independent defense capabilities with which they contribute to collective security. Defense capabilities also include critical infrastructure, including all roads and infrastructure,” Merilo explained.

“Estonia is now in a situation where military escalation is increasing. We must be prepared for the fact that if the situation develops not in our favor, then a military attack on Estonia will become more realistic than now or ever before in the history of our independence,” he added.

Merilo emphasized that his main goal is to make military aggression against Estonia impossible: “This is an extremely high ambition, but there is a reason for it. If a war breaks out between NATO and Russia, then, whether we like it or not, fighting will begin on our territory due to our geographical location.”

Estonia is a NATO border state bordering Russia: “If war starts, then in any case we will lose something – people, infrastructure and territory.”

Since the objectives of the security policy adopted by the Riigikogu are to make aggression impossible, everything must be considered in context. The population is over a million, the territory is 45,000 square kilometers, and you need to compare yourself with a state that is much larger than Estonia.

“We have a historical memory that says every time we resist, we succeed,” Merilo said.

The Commander of the Defense Forces recalled that Russia’s main goal is to seize territory: “We see this in Ukraine as well. Russia practices this in all its exercises, the most famous of which is “Zapad”, where territories are captured and controlled using old school tactics. Russia is sacrificing soldiers, equipment and equipment in Ukraine. Dozens of people die for a hundred meters.”

Estonia has a land border with Russia near Narva and south of Lake Peipus and Lake Pskov. It is difficult to cross the lakes; the advance is carried out by land.

“This is preceded by remote combat operations. Statistics are no longer kept on Russian missile attacks on Ukraine, since there are so many of them. Right now, while I’m making this report, there are attacks happening,” Merilo said.

He noted that in case of war, equipment can be delivered by sea or by land through Latvia. The motorized rifle battalion has more than 60 armored vehicles, auxiliary vehicles, and about a hundred vehicles in total. There are at least four such battalions in a brigade, plus auxiliary battalions with a large number of heavy equipment. Hundreds of cars that need roads to move.

Ports and airstrips are very expensive infrastructure assets. “The airstrip at Emari was once our most expensive defensive structure, but it is no longer there,” Merilo said.

Military equipment consumes at least 1.6 million liters of fuel per day during war. “It makes the most sense to supply fuel in large quantities on large trucks while it is safe to do so,” he said.

Civil evacuations also require roads and fuel, Merilo said: “Rail is the fastest way to move people while we can.”

“Evacuation is not limited to the territory of the Estonian state; at some point we must be ready to evacuate people outside the danger zone, which in the worst case could cover the entire territory of Estonia,” Merilo emphasized. “Sea, land and air transport are all important.”