At this week's NATO summit, the alliance agreed division structures will be created in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. This will enable a division, up to 30,000 NATO personnel, to operate in each country if needed.

"If we talk about the headquarters of the division, it will be headed by an Estonian. And we have been working on its creation for some time. And now that we have received clearer decisions, in the coming days we will start making decisions about which people will be assigned there. /.../ I think that this unit will exist completely independently next year," he told Thursday's "Aktuaalne kaamera".

The alliance also agreed to increase the number of NATO forces in each country to a brigade-sized unit, between 3,000 and 5,000 troops.

Estonia's will be provided by the UK which has already pledged an additional 1,000 personnel. However, not all the troops will be stationed in Estonia at one time unless it is necessary.

Herem said it is important the brigade assigned to Estonia is designated and starts to cooperate with the forces already here. It needs to understand the conditions and command structure, he explained.

The UK, which leads Estonia's Enhanced Forward Presence (eFP) battlegroup, has also promised to bolster regional security by moving indirect fire, anti-aircraft weapons and helicopters to the country.

--

Follow ERR News on Facebook and Twitter and never miss an update!