Raising Estonia’s defence spending to 5% of GDP would be unfeasible, Finance Minister Jürgen Ligi stated, ERR reports. Earlier, Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur suggested that NATO’s new defence plans meant that Estonia would have to raise its defence budget from the current 3% of GDP to somewhere less than 5% over a period of 20…
Estonia may need to raise its defence spending to 5% of GDP to implement NATO’s new defence plans, Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur stated, ERR reports. He said that Estonia clearly needed to acquire more capabilities, including air defence systems and equipment to deal with chemical and biological weapons. The money needed would amount to EUR…
Political leaders of Baltic Sea countries criticised the US strategy on the war in Ukraine at the GLOBSEC 2024 Forum in Prague, The Baltic Sentinel reported. Estonian Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur stressed the need for strategic clarity: “We want Ukraine to win, not just to fight,” he stated. Speaking to the Kyiv Independent, Latvian Defence…
The Estonian Reform Party will appoint MP Jürgen Ligi as the new finance minister in the incoming three-party coalition government, outgoing Finance Minister Mart Võrklaev announced, ERR reports. Ligi served as defence minister in 2005-2007 and finance minister in 2009-2014. He has also served as foreign minister and education minister. Moreover, Võrklaev said that Reform…
The Lithuanian parliament, the Seimas, has voted in favour of withdrawing from the Convention on Cluster Munitions, with 103 MPs in favour, 1 against, and 3 abstentions, BNS reports. Once President Gitanas Nauseda signs the law, Lithuania will withdraw from the convention six months after notification. Defence Minister Laurynas Kasciunas argued that the convention restricted…
US congressmen Donald Bacon of Nebraska and Salud Carbajal of California have visited the Baltic States, LSM reports. In Latvia, the two members of the US House of Representatives met with Prime Minister Evika Silina, Foreign Minister Baiba Braze, and Defence Minister Andris Spruds to discuss political, economic, and defence cooperation, the NATO summit in…
The Lithuanian government plans to invest around EUR 17.56mn in counter-mobility measures over 2024-2027, the Ministry of Defence announced, BNS reports. The plan is to deploy counter-mobility defence installations along the border with Belarus and Russia’s Kaliningrad (Königsberg) region by April 2025, reserve barriers on major national roads and bridges by November 2025, and drainage…
Lithuania will buy mobile short-range air defence systems from Sweden’s Saab Dynamics for EUR 147mn, the Ministry of Defence announced, BNS reports. The ministry’s Defence Materiel Agency (GRA) has signed a contract on buying the RBS70 NG (MSHORAD) systems, with delivery scheduled for 2025-2027. Defence Minister Laurynas Kasciunas said that the advantage of the systems…
Lithuania’s Ministry of Defence is negotiating with the US defence corporation, Northrop Grumman, on opening an ammunition factory in Lithuania, Defence Minister Laurynas Kasciunas announced, BNS reports. The factory would produce 30mm ammunition for infantry fighting vehicles. Kasciunas suggested that Lithuania’s state-owned ammunition manufacturer, Giraites Ginkluotes Gamykla, could house the new production line.