Estonian President: Trump should support the Baltic States
According to the President of Estonia, Kersti Kaljulaid, the stability of Estonia is a prerequisite for the stability of all countries of the North Atlantic alliance.
"We have been helping to strengthen security in other world regions – in Afghanistan, Iraq, and today in Lebanon together with our Finnish partners, as part of UN missions all over the world for the last 20 years. We contributed to the security system based on shared values. And, we believe, it is absolutely clear – if there are security problems in our region, our partners and allies will act just as we did," the President said.
Speaking about possible changes in U.S. foreign policy after the election of Republican candidate, Donald Trump, Kaljulaid stated that the US President-Elect still needs to clarify his position, in particular, regarding the deployment of additional NATO troops in the Baltic region. However, until this occurs, NATO’s previous decision should be executed, Kaljulaid said.
"We will see what position President-Elect Trump has regarding the transatlantic alliance. Until then, NATO’s decisions should be implemented and we are working towards them. We are ready to welcome our allies in Estonia, and we do spend over 2% of our GDP," Kaljulaid said.
"We fulfill our obligations to protect NATO’s eastern borders," she added. “As part of NATO’s initiative to deter a possible threat from Russia to Poland, Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia, we have planned to deploy four battalions consisting of the national armies of NATO member countries containing four thousand servicemen,” she stated. These units will rotate although Poland and maintain the deployment of NATO’s permanent bases in its territory.
The President-Elect of the U.S.A., Donald Trump, spoke with some skepticism against NATO and threatened not to protect countries which spend less than 2% of their GDP on defense. Lithuania and Latvia are among such countries, and have repeatedly expressed their concerns regarding Russia’s possible aggression.