March 16, 2015

American Armour Arrives in Estonia: Tanks in Country for First Time Since 1994

It’s psychologically important for us to feel that the US has our backs, but I wouldn’t overestimate the deterrent effect,” says Tomas Jermalavičius, research fellow with the International Centre for Defence and Security in Tallinn.

It’s psychologically important for us to feel that the US has our backs, but I wouldn’t overestimate the deterrent effect,” says Tomas Jermalavičius, research fellow with the International Centre for Defence and Security in Tallinn.

“The tanks may not even enter into military calculations in Moscow, if they’re running the numbers on military power in the region,” said Jermalavičius.
But even the fact of four tanks taking part in a military exercise has major significance for Estonia.
“Psychologically it’s a completely different thing to run simulations than to train interoperability with real tanks,” he said. Jermalavičius noted that the new units would not result in any appreciable shift in the military balance of power between Russia and NATO in the Baltic Sea region, with the Russians maintaining superiority.
“At NATO exercises, we’re always talking of a few thousand soldiers, while Russian exercises involve forces in the range of a hundred thousand,” he said.
Read more: Helsingin Sanomat

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