00:00 Sunday morning in a forest in Estonia, but this is no recreational walk in the woods.
00:04 "And our company is at the moment doing medevac procedures because we have some casualties."
00:11 Drones buzzing overhead, assault rifles and heavy weapons in their hands.
00:17 For these Estonian civilians it's not just a war game.
00:20 They're training to protect their homes and their homeland.
00:23 Today's adversary played by a unit from the French Foreign Legion,
00:27 part of the NATO presence in the country.
00:29 "We're impressed by the ability they have.
00:34 They're civilians who are giving up their weekends, who are giving up their time to
00:38 train in combat skills and learn about defending their rear positions."
00:42 The exercise pits 100 Estonian civilians against the force of professional French soldiers.
00:47 Facing blank rounds and an intense assault, the Estonian forces are eventually overwhelmed.
00:53 Indeed, with a standing army of only 5,000 professional soldiers,
00:57 faced with a hostile force many times larger,
01:00 Estonia has no choice but to rely on auxiliaries in case of invasion.
01:04 The Estonian Defence League can count on 30,000 of these highly motivated volunteers.
01:09 "We have to defend our families. We saw what happened in Ukraine, so we have to be ready."
01:14 "I have four children. It's a weekend. Normal people would be spending their
01:21 weekends with their children doing something else. But we are doing this because we have to.
01:27 Because of our not so nice neighbour to the east."
01:33 Estonia still holds bitter memories of the Russian and Soviet occupations of the 20th century,
01:42 this monument bearing the names of the thousands of civilian deportees from that era.
01:46 Sharing a 330km long border with Russia and with a large ethnically Russian population,
01:52 the question of its security dominates the political debate.
01:56 Meaning Estonia, ahead of the European elections, is counting more than ever
01:59 on its Western, NATO and European allies to guarantee its security.
02:04 "In this sense, the impact is direct. Issue number one, issue number two,
02:10 issue number three in the campaign, it is about Estonian and European security."
02:15 "Estonians' proposal is, and I think it's a good one, that from the European Union countries' GDP,
02:25 everybody allocates 0.25% to defence of Ukraine and Ukraine will be able to win the war.
02:35 Because the alternative is much more expensive for Europe than to help right now."
02:43 While Estonia's political parties agree on the need for unity in the face of the Russian threat,
02:48 the main points of division during the European elections
02:50 are focused on the EU's Green Deal and the Estonian economy.
Comments