The Minister of defence of Estonia urged recruits to defend the country from Russia

Each recruit came in 2020 in the Estonian army, must remember that he is another soldier that needs to be considered the enemy. This was stated in his address to the recruits, the defense Minister of Estonia jüri Luik, reminding about the threat posed to the country and its Eastern neighbor (the only state with which Estonia is bordered to the East, is Russia).

“The Russian occupation of Georgian territories, Crimea and war in Eastern Ukraine continues today <…> To such a sad fate befell Estonia, your family, friends, so you could live in a free Estonia without fear of military invasion, it needs a trained reserve army that will be able to protect our country. And you, the current conscript and reservist the future, fulfill this important role,”said Luik.

The Minister recalled that in 1918-1920 “the desire for freedom is defeated numerically far superior Russian troops” and the Estonian army were able to throw the invading country by the red army. According to Luna, and now in front of the Estonian army’s task is to prove that it can defend the country.

“[Our goal] to show the opponents that in case of aggression, they can lose more than to win and that we can defend ourselves until the arrival of the allies. Of course, we are less than our neighbour to the East, but our forces enough to make it clear to the enemy that you should not stick your nose in it”, — summed Luik.

The Armed forces of Estonia consists of the several professional divisions, but the bulk of the troops formed the recruiting basis. The call in the army for eight or 11 months men aged 17 to 27 years, women of the same age can enlist as a volunteer. Have served by conscription, and all men under the age of 60 years shall be credited to the reserve.

As of 1 January 2020, the reserve of the Estonian army there were more than 227 thousand men aged 18-60 years, from them about 34 thousand had previously served in the army. The total number of the persons consisting on the valid military service, was 3508 people.