According to Estonia's Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur, Finland and Estonia have agreed to integrate their coastal defense once Finland becomes member of NATO. "We need to integrate our coastal defenses. The range of Estonian and Finnish missiles is longer than the width of the Gulf of Finland. It means that we combine our missile defense and share all our information with each other", said Pevkur.

Last fall, Estonia decided to acquire Israeli Blue Spear anti naval missiles, which have the range of 290 kilometers. Finland's MTO 85M missiles have a range of over 100 kilometers.

Pevkur emphasizes that the integration of Finnish and Estonian missile defense enables the Gulf of Finland to be closed to Russian warships.

"The Baltic Sea will be NATO's internal sea when Finland and Sweden have joined NATO. Compared with what it is today, the situation is changing," Pevkur said.

Pevkur sees the integration with Finland as urgent, because Russia cannot be trusted. "We see the Russian attack in Ukraine. The war started in 2014 and expanded on February 24, 2022, Estonia's Independence Day. Russia's activities have no boundaries", added Pevkur.

Pevkur also said that the Estonian government has decided to purchase new weapons for 800 million euros.

"We are acquiring anti-tank missiles, new anti-coastal missiles, Himars rocket launchers from the United States and so on. Next week, the government will discuss the acquisition of a new medium-range missile system and new anti-aircraft missiles. There must be equipment for the soldiers" Pevkur sums up.

Source: https://www.iltalehti.fi/polit...

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