Estonia to Move Brigade Closer to Russian Border

Estonia plans to permanently relocate its 1st Brigade from Tapa to Jõhvi, about 50 kilometers from the Russian border, as part of a shift to an active-defense strategy. The move is intended to let Estonian forces contest an attack from the frontier rather than rely on falling back while awaiting allied reinforcements, officials and military commanders say. Colonel Tarmo Kundla, the brigade’s commander, said the strategy calls for Estonia to be prepared to fight from the border in the earliest stages of a conflict. The relocation is planned, and the sources do not establish that it has been completed. New facilities are being built in Jõhvi and in the border city of Narva. The Narva site is designed to house 200 troops permanently and accommodate up to 800 more during a crisis. The shift reflects Estonian officials’ concern that Russia could attempt a limited military action to test NATO’s collective-defense commitment, rather than launch a full-scale attack on the alliance. Estonian military and intelligence chiefs reportedly do not expect a full-scale Russian attack on NATO within the next two years.