A ceremony at Tapa marked the end of the Danes' stint at Tapa, with Minister of Defense Jüri Luik presenting the decorations and making a speech.

Luik said that: "Estonia and Denmark are very close allies, dating back over 1,000 years, and next year we will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations. We will also not forget the 200 Danish volunteers who came to Estonia's aid in the War of Independence."

The minister noted the past year has not been easy, adding that the pandemic has not weakened NATO's stance or the eFP's activities in Estonia.

DefMin Luik thanked the outgoing Danish @NATO battlegroup contingent in Tapa yesterday and awarded them with NATO eFP mission medals inscribed with "in defence of NATO". #WeAreAllies @DKAMBinEstonia @forsvaretdk @estNATO @DK_NATO @DkDefatBaltic pic.twitter.com/zhc4eisYri

— MoD Estonia (@MoD_Estonia) December 22, 2020

The eFP has been in existence since early 2017, following the 2016 Warsaw summit where the decision was made to form the battlegroup and its equivalents in Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.

The battlegroup is U.K.-led and in turn organizationally a part of the Estonian Defense Forces' (EDF) 1st infantry brigade.

Danish soldiers last took part in the eFP in 2018, and Denmark's air force has also contributed to the separate NATO air policing duties, which fly out of Ämari, with F-16 jets.

Around 3,500 allied soldiers fought on the Estonian side in the 1918-1920 War of Independence, around 210 of them from Denmark.

The Danes will be replaced by an incoming French contingent, whose kit will include Leclerc Main Battle Tanks.

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