Estonia’s foreign minister Margus Tsahkna has warned that if Russia attacks his country, Tallinn, backed by its NATO allies, would seek to shift combat operations onto Russian territory.

Tsahkna rejected as false the idea that Estonia is one of Europe’s most vulnerable states and would be among the first targets in the event of a potential Russian strike. He argued that Estonia already has updated defence plans and stressed that the country does not intend to simply wait passively in case of aggression from Russia.

In his view, the North Atlantic Alliance now has the strongest military capabilities in its history. Against this backdrop, the minister called on the European Union to drop the notion of opening negotiations with Moscow. He insisted that there is currently no point in searching for a special EU envoy and sending that representative to Russia, saying such an emissary would return in a humiliated and weakened position and would at the same time undermine Ukraine’s standing.

Earlier, the head of Estonia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, Kaupo Rosin, stated that Russia does not seek to attack the Baltic states. According to him, Moscow tries to reduce the risk of a possible conflict, closely monitoring the flight paths of drones and the routes of aircraft in order to avoid incidents.