Estonia to procure military equipment for Moldova and Ukraine
The Center for Defense Investments (RKIK) and the eState Academy will use European Peace Facility resources to procure various nonlethal military equipment for Moldovan armed forces. A contract for passive radars has been signed with a Czech company. RKIK recently also signed a cooperation agreement with the relevant agency in Ukraine.
The first such contract has been signed between RKIK, the Moldovan Ministry of Defense and Czech company ERA for a passive radar system. Estonia uses the same kind of radar. The center is using EPF resources in Moldova following an agreement with the EU and under its supervision.
"The average annual sum of support for Moldova has been €40 million since 2022," said Katri Raudsepp, deputy chief of RKIK.
Europe is financing efforts to procure non-lethal equipment – communications and surveillance systems, ordinary and armored vehicles – for Moldova. Raudsepp said that it will take relatively longer to procure armored vehicles in the current situation.
"We have already spearheaded several joint procurements and European cooperation projects. We have applied similar aid measures before, in the case of Ukraine, for example. It also helps that we've procured similar things for the Estonian Defense Forces (EDF) recently," she noted.
Since 2021, the EU has given Moldovan armed forces €128 million through the European Peace Facility.
RKIK signed a defense tenders contract with the relevant agency in Ukraine last month, while it is too soon to talk about concrete cooperation projects there, Raudsepp said.
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Editor: Marko Tooming, Marcus Turovski
