Accelerated Growth: Developments in Baltic Defence
Russia’s war in Ukraine has prompted Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania to accelerate the building of their armed forces.
Read more
NATO
The European Security Conundrum: Between “Strategic Autonomy” and Alliance
The issue of European security is often misunderstood because it covers multiple realities. Guaranteeing Europe’s security means preparing for an attack on its territory, which increasingly coincides with that of NATO members.
Read more
Contribution to European Security: The Only Prerequisite to NATO Membership
The year of Russian aggression against Ukraine changed the security configuration in Europe. What did not change was a perception of the enlargement by NATO itself – the self-restrains and myths cultivated for decades. Yet Finland and Sweden’s acceptance has started a tectonic shift.
Read more
War and Energy Security: Lessons for The Future
Russia’s war against Ukraine has produced multiple shifts in the geopolitical landscape of Europe. Various EU member states and EU institutions broke through entire decades of dogmatic principles and established practices in security and defence policies to respond to Russia’s aggression and protect the continent. The energy domain is at the forefront of this confrontation, as Russia used its dominant market position in European energy supply in the run-up to – as well as during – the war to weaken Europe’s responses, divide the EU, and deter it from increasing its support to Ukraine.
Read more
How Russia Went to War: The Kremlin’s Preparations for Its Aggression Against Ukraine
This report examines Russia’s preparations for its full-scale invasion of Ukraine: domestically, in Ukraine itself, in the global information domain, and in building its relationship with China.
Read more
Baltic Defence Development: Adding Value to the Defence of the Baltic Sea Region
While Baltic security thinking has long been dominated by assessments of the risk of Russian military aggression in Europe, the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 was still a shock in its brutality and scale. It has led the three Baltic states to further increase defence spending and to accelerate the building of national defence capabilities.
Read more
Reining in Autonomous Weapons. Impact on Military Innovation – An Estonian Perspective
Robotic platforms, artificial intelligence, and weapons with autonomous functions have become central to defence innovation. Major powers rely on emerging technologies to achieve and maintain strategic advantages over their potential adversaries. Yet more developed AI-based solutions produce not only more sophisticated technologies but also a not-less-sophisticated set of problems.
Read more
Defence Spending: Who Is Doing What?
Defence spending has often been the cause of bitter arguments among NATO Allies. In today’s worsened security environment, Allies will doubtless need to return to this thorny topic at their July summit in Vilnius.
Read more
Let Us Not Deceive Ourselves: Western Unity Is Fragile
A common Western policy on Russia requires a herculean effort. Yet European unity will be short-lived unless—once the war ends—Ukraine receives the only security guarantee that has proven effective—that is, membership in NATO.
Read more
Building European Security Against Russia – A View From Estonia
With Russia’s barbaric invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, major conventional war returned to Europe in a manner unseen since the two world wars and the end of the Cold War—three occasions during the 20th century when the borders, norms, institutions, and balance of power ordering interstate relations on the continent and beyond experienced an unparalleled upheaval.
Read more