Ukraine has recently reported a number of Russian aircraft shot down or rendered unusable. With this, Ukraine may be creating conditions for the deployment of new aircraft soon to be received from the West, said Air Force Chief of Staff Col. Janek Lehiste. Lehiste told ERR’s “Ukraina stuudio” that theContinue Reading
According to data provided by Statistics Estonia, in May 2023, the total production of industrial enterprises was down by 12.7 percent on year at constant prices. Output declined in two of Estonia’s three main industrial sectors. It was down by 31.5 percent in electricity production and 13.1 percent in manufacturing.Continue Reading
As of the fall, upper secondary schools will be required to offer defense education courses. As a result, the Defense League will have to contribute more to the organization of defense education field programs and for that, raise additional funds, while the government will have to train more defense instructors.Continue Reading
Estonia’s largest defense training exercise Spring Storm (Kevadtorm) started on Monday and will last until May 26. Approximately, 14,000 personnel will take part. Army, Air Force, Navy and Defense League units, conscripts and reservists take part in the annual exercise, totaling around 9,000 personnel. Around half are reservists. The restContinue Reading
Despite the coalition’s quashing of filibustering in the Riigikogu on Monday, the opposition parties plan to stay their course. If the coalition fails to appropriate enough time for procedural questions and introducing new bills, the opposition will simply start filing clusters of draft legislation, which will be just as effectiveContinue Reading
The NATO enhanced Forward Presence (eFP) Battlegroup in Estonia recently marked six years of existence. Based primarily at Tapa, east of Tallinn, and with HQ staff in the capital, the battlegroup is one of four such set-ups, the others being in Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. The Tapa-based eFP Battlegroup isContinue Reading
On Wednesday, the Riigikogu voted in favor of giving Prime Minister-designate Kaja Kallas (Reform) a mandate to form a new government. 59 members of the Riigikogu voted in favor and 38 against. Kallas had not received a mandate on Tuesday, as the day’s Riigikogu session ended before a vote couldContinue Reading
There remains no consensus within the incoming Reform-Eesti 200-SDE coalition as to what to do with the rights of Russian and Belarusian citizens ordinarily resident in Estonia to vote in local elections, with only an agreement existing not to amend the Constitution on this issue. All foreign citizens permanently residentContinue Reading
President Alar Karis issued somewhat of a cautionary salvo to the incoming Reform-Eesti 200-SDE coalition, likely to enter office next week, calling them to act responsibly and not simply surf a wave of post-election victory popularly. The head of state particularly picked out what he called the “unseemly” treatment ofContinue Reading
Late last year, cultural workers employed by the City of Tartu gathered in Town Hall Square (Raekoja Plats). Placards in hand, they voiced their dissatisfaction with their level of pay and presented a “Christmas tree of shame” to the local government. Now, negotiations are underway between the cultural workers andContinue Reading