According to Lieutenant General Martin Herem, Russia could deploy about 1,000 tanks and 4,000 armored personnel carriers, 1,000 artillery systems and 100,000 troops on the Estonian and Latvian borders.
Estonia and its allies must be prepared for the next Russian attack. This was announced in an interview with the ERR by Lieutenant General Martin Herem, Commander-in-Chief of the Estonian Defense Forces (EDF), on Thursday, January 5th.
The Estonian armed forces believe that after the defeat in Ukraine, Russian society can demand revenge, so their neighbors and allies should be prepared for the next Russian attack against them.
“Of course we must now focus on the victory of Ukraine, because this is the main and inevitable goal on the way to a better future. But this is only the first goal. Second, we must be ready for the next one.” “Russia’s aggression towards us, our allies and our values in Estonia,” he said.
According to the Commander-in-Chief of the Estonian Armed Forces, despite the heavy losses of manpower and equipment, Russia has sufficient potential to carry out a military offensive against some of its neighbors.
How can Russia fight in Estonia?
According to estimates of the Estonian Defense Forces, Russia could deploy about 1,000 tanks and 4,000 armored personnel carriers, 1,000 artillery systems and 100,000 troops along the Estonian and Latvian borders, which are about 400 km long. At the same time, the war could inflict serious damage on Estonia, even if the quality of manpower and equipment is far from the best.
“With the current annual artillery production, Russia will be able to fire more than 66,000 rounds per day across the entire 400 kilometer front. It doesn’t matter if Estonia is attacked by old T-62 tanks or new T-90s, Javelin or Eurospike anyway to destroy them. Missiles will be needed. The same goes for enemy soldiers, planes and other things – we need weapons, ammunition and the ability to use them against the enemy mass of soldiers,” Herem said.
In addition, the Estonian Armed Forces believes that in the event of an attack on the Baltic states, Russia can increase its ammunition production and use aircraft and navy that were not previously located in Ukraine.
“Russian factories previously produced about two million pieces of artillery munitions per year. They will probably be able to double the volume of ammunition produced. So far, Russia has used about 10% of the S-300 missiles it uses to destroy land targets in Ukraine at a distance of 70 kilometers. “In ten months, Russia lost less than 10% of its air force and even less of its navy. You could say Russia lacks modern technology, but it doesn’t take much. 21st century technology to create a mass of soldiers,” added Kherem.
The Commander-in-Chief also noted that in order to counter Russian aggression in the future, Estonia should systematically develop its military capabilities.
Recall, on January 4, the head of the Main Intelligence Department of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Kyrylo Budanov, announced that in the spring the Armed Forces of Ukraine were planning a serious counterattack. According to him, in March 2023 hostilities will be “the hottest”, after which Ukraine will inflict a final defeat on the Russian Federation.
Earlier on December 30, Budanov announced that the Russian Ministry of Defense plans to launch a new wave of mobilization from January 5, 2023, as the army is in serious need of personnel replenishment.
Source: Focus
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