All posts tagged: Estonia

Estonia Images Show Machine Guns on Russian LNG Carrier in Baltic

Estonia Images Show Machine Guns on Russian LNG Carrier in Baltic

Published by Sam Flores

VILNIUS, June 30 (Reuters) – Estonia has released images showing machine guns and ⁠sandbags ⁠mounted on a Russian-flagged liquefied natural gas carrier ⁠in the Baltic Sea this spring, signalling a more confrontational stance by Moscow in protecting its civilian ​fleet. The surveillance images show fortified machine gun positions on the bridge roof of the Marshal Vasilevskiy, a civilian vessel whose home port is Kaliningrad. Armed guards are common ‌on ships transiting piracy hotspots, but it is “a ‌crazy new step” for civilian vessels in the Baltic, said Yoruk Isik, a geopolitical analyst who runs the Bosphorus Observer consultancy. “This is a hostile move ⁠by Russia to ⁠send a message to EU and NATO nations that it will actively oppose any attempt to ​detain or inspect its ships,” Isik told Reuters. “There is no justification for self defence posture like a machine gun in the Baltic… This clearly shows that the high seas are becoming increasingly lawless.” The Marshal Vasilevskiy, owned by Gazprom unit Gazprom Flot LLC, has transported LNG to Kaliningrad from a port near …

Estonia’s former President on lessons learnt in dealing with Putin – Spotlight

Estonia’s former President on lessons learnt in dealing with Putin – Spotlight

Published by Sam Flores

There is an ongoing NATO exercise taking place right now just off the south western coast of Estonia in the Gulf of Riga, and around the Baltic Sea stretching south to Skagan on the coast of Denmark.  Exercise “Baltops”, with 20 ships, roughly 6,000 troops, and 16 countries taking part is usually one of the most significant NATO exercises of the year, and the oldest it started in 1972.  There are anti- submarine warfare drills, amphibious landings, and maritime drone ops, but it’s a notably scaled down exercise this year, with half the number of ships there usually are. The US drawdown is a big factor, almost half of its deployed warships have been in the Persian Gulf. Military analysts say it’s also compounded by Washington’s changing priorities and current worldview, which has shifted away from the European arena. Add to that President Trump’s consistent criticism and social media screeds AGAINST NATO allies for not immediately assisting in his war against Iran, and for their objection to Trump’s idea of annexing Greenland.  While NATO is …

Romania asks for NATO support after Russian drone crash – POLITICO

Romania asks for NATO support after Russian drone crash – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

The alliance is “assessing what more can be done now to optimise Romania and NATO’s network of sensors and shooters to safely neutralize such threats,” the same official said. That could include bringing Romania’s MEROPS counter-drone system “under NATO command,”they said, adding that allies would “have an opportunity” to offer additional capabilities during an force generation conference early next month. Sorin Moldovan, Romania’s deputy defense minister, said last week at the POLITICO Speakeasy at the GLOBSEC Forum in Prague that if there is a risk to civilians “you don’t give the [order] to fire.” The full list of kit Romania is asking for remains classified, but the country’s interim Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan listed specialized radars that detect low-altitude drones as one example of the type of equipment the government had requested from NATO partners. Radu Tudor, an independent security expert, argued one reason NATO had been slow to respond to previous Romanian air defense requests was down to the speed of Russian drone-related innovation, which rapidly puts NATO equipment out of date. “They are evolving …

EU’s intelligence hub eyes bigger role in security overhaul – POLITICO

EU’s intelligence hub eyes bigger role in security overhaul – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

INTCEN has no operational espionage capabilities of its own; instead, it analyzes intelligence shared voluntarily by EU countries and passes its assessments to senior officials in the EEAS, the Commission and the European Council. The renewed attention lends fresh weight to a unit often dismissed as toothless — and comes as officials in Brussels and national capitals have floated the question of whether the EU needs its own spy agency. The EU’s new European Security Strategy, which is being drafted by the Commission and the EEAS, should be published this summer. It is expected to use an expansive definition of security that goes beyond defense to include economic security, supply chains, preparedness and partnerships with countries outside the EU, a fourth person briefed on the strategy told POLITICO. The document, which has been advertised as a “grand strategy,” is expected to be short and to include a geopolitical threat assessment, a status report on European security, and a roadmap for future action, the person said. The roadmap will propose up to 10 major ideas for …

Inside the rise of digital embassies – POLITICO

Inside the rise of digital embassies – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

Sharing the AI load As Europe wakes up to its dependence on private tech from the U.S. and China, some countries are weighing whether building a digital embassy is better than relying on a private cloud service. Luxembourg’s Deputy Prime Minister Xavier Bettel, who says the principality has become a trusted digital partner, at a technolgoy summit in Lisbon in November 2024. | Horacio Villalobos/Corbis/Getty Images “When we speak about digital sovereignty, we don’t need to send them to the States or to Asia, we can do it in Europe,” said Bettel. “It’s not against someone, it’s just in favor of sovereign Europe.” The idea is also sparking the curiosity of countries that want to supercharge artificial intelligence development and data processing but don’t have the resources to do it in their own country. Earlier this month, the World Economic Forum launched a global framework for bilateral agreements to establish such digital embassies. The framework touches on things like access rights, data disclosures, jurisdiction, privacy laws, dispute resolution and the interoperability of infrastructure. As AI …

UK defense minister’s plane has signal jammed near Russian border – POLITICO

UK defense minister’s plane has signal jammed near Russian border – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

The incident was first reported by The Times, which said it was unclear whether the defense minister was deliberately targeted, but indicated the jet’s flight path was visible on tracking websites. According to the Financial Times, after its signal was jammed, Healey’s plane spent three hours flying without access to GPS or the internet. There have been several recent instances of interference with Western planes linked to Russia. A plane carrying European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was allegedly impacted by GPS interference last September, but there were contradictory accounts of what exactly took place. Flights in the eastern Baltic Sea region have also experienced GPS disturbances linked to Russia. Ukraine has said that Kremlin jamming operations have led several of its drones to enter EU airspace. Last week two Russian warplanes intercepted a British spy plane over the Black Sea. At the time, Healey said the incident was “another example of dangerous and unacceptable behavior by Russian pilots.” He added that the Russian interception “will not deter the UK’s commitment to defend NATO, …

Europe races to make it harder for Trump to rattle NATO – POLITICO

Europe races to make it harder for Trump to rattle NATO – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

Swedish Defense Minister Pål Jonson warned against inserting a “European preference” into EU defense procurement rules. “My responsibility, first and foremost, is to get weapons in the hands of these warfighters,” Jonson said on Saturday. “Sometimes that can be from Europeans, sometimes it can be from the Americans or somewhere it can be from Asia.” Jonson’s warning landed weeks after Thomas DiNanno, the U.S. under secretary of state for arms control, traveled to Poland, Romania and Estonia. The State Department said his Warsaw meetings with U.S. industry representatives included discussions on “EU defense protectionism” and the “America First Arms Transfer Strategy.” Romanian Foreign Minister Oana Țoiu also framed the balance between equipping troops and building up local defense industries. “Localization was very important, investment in jobs at home was very important,” she said on Saturday. But Bucharest also wants to “create the space to advance in the engagement with the United States,” she said, adding that Romania’s procurement plan included “more than $2 billion” of U.S. kit. That need to calibrate domestic interests against keeping …

Russia’s drone blame game fails to split Ukraine from its Baltic allies – POLITICO

Russia’s drone blame game fails to split Ukraine from its Baltic allies – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

That can send drones toward neighboring NATO territory — something Baltic and Ukrainian officials say is now happening. For Kyiv, the balance is delicate. Ukrainian officials have apologized for incidents involving stray drones, while insisting that strikes on Russian military and economic targets are lawful acts of self-defense. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has shown no sign of halting the bombing campaign, which he calls “sanctions” aimed at bringing Russia to its knees. Russia’s air defenses are becoming increasingly porous, prompting it to try to use political pressure to halt the Ukrainian attacks. “Russia wants to discredit Ukraine in the eyes of countries that are one of the key ones in terms of direct and indirect support for Ukraine,” Mykola Bielieskov, a senior military analyst with the Come Back Alive Initiative and a research fellow at Ukraine’s National Institute for Strategic Studies, told POLITICO. The goal, he said, is to create “a point of contradiction and division” between Kyiv and the Baltic countries. So far, that effect has not materialized. Baltic officials are not blaming Ukraine …

UK wargames AI-driven NATO conflict with Russia – POLITICO

UK wargames AI-driven NATO conflict with Russia – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

AI-driven warfare The ARRCADE STRIKE exercise included hundreds of personnel from Britain, France, Italy and the U.S. to test the ability to plan a potential future operation involving up to 100,000 people, as well as the use of AI-driven targeting and planning for electromagnetic and drone warfare. AI-driven tools such as ASGARD — made in collaboration with private sector companies including American tech giant Palantir — will be used in order to speed up decision-making on the battlefield. These tools allow for weapons to be automatically assigned to targets to make sure expensive ammunition isn’t wasted on enemy drones, and to counter Russia’s own adoption of AI in warfare.  General Alexus Grynkewich, supreme allied commander Europe, described ARRC as “essential for our NATO plans” and that it will draw upon “the lessons learned from Ukraine and Operation Epic Fury.” “Failure to learn, adapt, and apply the lessons we observe on the modern battlefield, and failure to do this faster than our adversaries puts both our deterrence posture and our defense plans at risk,” he added. …

10 EU countries want open season on fish-eating bird – POLITICO

10 EU countries want open season on fish-eating bird – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

The demand comes in a joint letter to Environment Commissioner Jessika Roswall and Fisheries Commissioner Costas Kadis, seen exclusively by POLITICO. Sixteen agriculture and environment ministers from Estonia, Sweden, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Croatia, Poland, the Czech Republic and Romania want the cormorant added to the list of huntable species under the EU’s flagship nature law, the 1979 Birds Directive. They are also pressing Brussels to set coordinated population targets across the bloc and to make it easier to shoot the bird outside hunting season. Estonian Agriculture Minister Hendrik Johannes Terras, who helped coordinate the letter, argued that the EU should be as willing to control cormorants as it is to control other predators. The bloc has loosened protections on wolves in recent years, and several countries cull invasive mink and raccoon dogs to protect ground-nesting birds. “If we are prepared to limit the number of smaller predators to protect bird species, then why shouldn’t we reduce predation pressure to protect fish?” he told POLITICO. “Nature should be viewed as a whole.” In the May …