The question is not if war will come, but when it will come – 2024-02-23 22:49:48

Andrus Merilo, who will take up the position of commander of the Estonian Defense Forces in July, wants to increase Estonia’s defense budget. Elle Laitila

The future commander of the Estonian Defense Forces Andrus Merilo warns that Estonia must prepare for the spread of war. In Merilo’s opinion, Estonians should position themselves in such a way that the question is not whether war will come, but when it will come.

– We should not deceive ourselves and say that it will never happen. Rather, we should get used to the idea that it will happen and prepare to prevent it when the moment comes, says Merilo to the Estonian public radio company ERR.

According to Merilo, it is pointless to count the years when the war can start. He points out that the war in Ukraine has been going on for 10 years, and only two years ago it escalated into a full-scale Russian attack.

– In that sense, the war has really started, we have a crisis already underway. It’s about what stage this crisis will develop into. There’s no point sticking your head in the bush and saying maybe the war will start in three years, because it’s already going on.

– Besides, Russia will certainly not wait additional years to give us time to prepare if it has plans to continue its military offensive in other directions.

In Merilo’s opinion, the Western countries made a mistake when they limited the use of the weapons given to Ukraine only on its own territory. He says it’s one of the reasons why Ukraine has been put on the defensive again.

– From a military point of view, setting such a restriction is completely wrong, it should not have been done.

Merilo would like to increase Estonia’s defense budget in the near future to ensure defense capability. According to him, Estonia must be technically superior, because in terms of the number of soldiers it cannot match against a larger enemy force.

– We have to fight with quality against quantity, Merilo states.

Merilo takes office as commander of the Estonian Defense Forces on July 1. He has completed a reserve officer course in Finland in 1998, after which he studied at the Finnish National Defense University 1998–2002.