Moscow has long dismissed such allegations as fearmongering designed to justify Western military buildup<\/p>\n
Estonia has dismissed Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky\u2019s claims that Russia could be preparing to attack NATO\u2019s Baltic members, saying its intelligence does not indicate any such plans, according to public broadcaster ERR. Moscow has long described claims of a \u201cRussian threat\u201d as \u201cnonsense\u201d used by the US-led military bloc\u2019s European members to justify their military buildup.
\nZelensky told local media over the weekend that Moscow could be planning a new mobilization drive to step up its military operation in Ukraine or launch a smaller one against one of the Baltic states, which he claimed \u201care not prepared for strong resistance.\u201d
\nEstonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna told ERR on Monday that, since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, Kiev has repeatedly alleged a possible Russian attack on the Baltic nations.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Russia not planning to attack NATO \u2013 Estonian intelligence<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t see Russia concentrating its forces or preparing in any way militarily to attack NATO or the Baltic states,\u201d Tsahkna said, adding that \u201csuch statements do not correspond to our intelligence information.\u201d
\nThe NATO member\u2019s Foreign Intelligence Service (EFIS) concluded in its annual threat assessment report, published in February, that Moscow poses no threat to Estonia in the coming years, stating there is \u201cno cause for panic.\u201d
\nEstonia has been one of Kiev\u2019s top supporters and has pushed for increased military spending in Europe. Tsahkna said recently that Tallinn is not against the idea of hosting NATO nuclear weapons, adding that the country will be ready if the bloc decides to deploy them there.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Russia will respond if Estonia hosts NATO nukes \u2013 Kremlin<\/p>\n
Western officials have long used allegations of looming Russian aggression to justify spikes in military spending, such as Brussels\u2019 \u20ac800 billion ($943 billion) ReArm Europe plan and NATO members\u2019 pledge to raise defense spending to 5% of GDP.
\nMoscow has repeatedly rejected those claims, with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stating that Russia has \u201cno reason\u201d to attack the EU or NATO unless attacked first. According to Lavrov, it is the European NATO members that \u201care seriously preparing for war against the Russian Federation and, in fact, are not even hiding it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Moscow has long dismissed such allegations as fearmongering designed to justify Western military buildup Estonia has dismissed Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky\u2019s claims that Russia could be preparing to attack NATO\u2019s…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33619,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t