Society & Defence

A War of the Final Soviet Generation: Russia’s Demography, Society, and Aggression Against Ukraine

What is the attitude of Russian society towards the war? If it supports the war, why? These questions started swirling immediately after the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Since then, at least several major opinion polls have been conducted to find answers. However, many experts doubt the validity of those surveys, since the atmosphere of total censorship, repression, and fear strongly affects the sincerity of respondents.

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If War is Coming to Sweden

A subdued but still dramatic sign of the fundamentally changed security situation in the Baltic Sea region is about to be delivered to some five million Swedish households this week, that is to the entire population of the kingdom of Sweden.

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Women in the Estonian Defence Forces

On 30 January, ICDS held a seminar to present its latest report, “Women in the Estonian Defence Forces: Motivation, Attitudes, Experiences and Challenges”, authored by Andres Siplane and based on a survey conducted among members of the EDF. The report was published in Estonian, English and Russian, with support from the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

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Women in the Estonian Defence Forces: Motivation, Attitudes, Experience and Challenges

“Women officers, NCOs and conscripts should become an ordinary sight, not an extraordinary phenomenon in Estonia. In the present-day high-tech national defence, there is no reason to differentiate between people on the basis of gender and to assume that defence is only men’s work… Among other things, we need to change the attitudes in our society that do not favour the participation of women in the military… It is particularly pleasing that the more active involvement of women is supported by current service personnel.”
Hannes Hanso, Chairman of the National Defence Committee of the Riigikogu, former Minister of Defence

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