Parliament approves foreign missions in 2015
Parliament has given a green light to the participation of up to 154 Estonian soldiers in several international military operations.
Estonian soldiers will be part of the NATO mission in Afghanistan, Mali, Kosovo and the Middle East, and form part of the NATO Response Force (NRF) and EU's Nordic Battle Group.
One Estonian minehunter, with 40 sailors and five officers on board, will be part of the NRF's Mine Countermeasures Group 1.
Up to 50 troops are members of the EU's Nordic Battle Group, meaning that in times of crisis, they have a 15-day deployment deadline.
Up to 25 officers will be sent to Afghanistan as part of an ongoing Resolute Support operation, a mission to carry on training local troops.
Ten soldiers will be sent to EU's training mission and another ten to UN's peace mission MINUSMA, both in Mali. Three officers will partake in the KFOR peace mission in Kosovo and six in UN's UNTSO survey mission in the Near East.
Another five Defense Forces' members can be sent to serve in NATO or EU military operation headquarters, if such institutions are set up.
According to the International Military Cooperation Act, the decision to take part of international operations must be made be the Parliament.
Editor: M. Oll