"The management paralysis in the government is clearly affecting national security now," Reinsalu noted.

"I place more trust in [outgoing Ministry of Defense Permanent Secretary] Kusti Salm than I do in the entire government. He is a brave man who did what he did in an attempt to wake up society," the politician said. Reinsalu repeated his earlier position according to which Prime Minister Kaja Kallas (Reform) lied when she claimed that she only learned the EDF needs €1.6 billion for munitions purchases from the newspaper.

"Talking about money is an attempt by the premier at muddying the water. It is a one-off expense for which we need to take out a national defense loan. We find ourselves in a critical situation and have already wasted a year."

The government's decisions were based on advice from the Estonian Defense Forces (EDF) commander in the previous coalition, which is also what it says in the current one's coalition agreement," Reinsalu pointed out.

Minister of Defense Hanno Pevkur (Reform), appearing alongside Reinsalu on the ETV morning show Friday, when asked whether the government's unwillingness to come up with the €1.6 billion was the main reason for Salm's resignation, said that he does not believe so.

Pevkur referred to the situation as "mud wrestling." We are doing everything we can to come up with the missing €1.5 billion. The permanent secretary and the EDF commander are within their rights making these proposals, while it is up to me to take them to the government where a decision can be made," he said.

The defense minister did not provide a clear answer to the question of when did the matter of the missing €1.6 billion come to the attention of cabinet ministers.

"[It was known] for a while, which no one is denying. In different forms. We had a more detailed discussion on June 5 when the EDF commander and I met with the finance minister to showcase the proposals," Pevkur noted.

He added that he has scheduled an extraordinary meeting with the Riigikogu National Defense Committee to discuss the additional need for ammunition.

Committee member Raimond Kaljulaid (SDE) said on the morning show that the question of how long have members of the government been aware of the need for additional ammunition for the EDF is "outlying" and that everyone should calm down. "We should be concentrating on how to rectify this critical shortfall," he said.

But Kaljulaid also said that the National Defense Committee has met with both Kusti Salm and EDF head Gen. Martin Herem to discuss these matters, and that he cannot say what committee chair Kalev Stoicescu could have found confusing about the €1.6 billion in question. "There are no documents in Estonia the National Defense Committee chair cannot access," he added.

Security expert Meelis Oidsalu told Vikerraadio Friday morning that national defense-related decisions ran out of steam following the 2023 general election. There has been a strong atmospheric shift that has worn out both Herem and Salm, he said.

"To say that no request for additional funding has been made after Pevkur admitted in February that it was discussed and turned down..." Oidsalu remarked.

"On June 8, 2023, members of the government discussed requests for additional national defense funding in the presence of Prime Minister Kaja Kallas and Minister of Defense Hanno Pevkur. There is a written record of that meeting," the analyst said.

Commander of the EDF Gen. Martin Herem has also said that members of the government have been aware of the EDF's need for €1.6 billion for additional munitions purchases for some time. But Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said during the government press conference Thursday that she read about the need for additional funding from the paper.

Urmas Reinsalu finds that the prime minister lied to hide her cabinet's national security omissions. "I know for a fact that these proposals were included in the EDF commander's advice a year ago, and that the government rejected them," Reinsalu told ETV news Thursday.

Minister of Defense Hanno Pevkur said Thursday that the €1.6 billion question is not the reason both Salm and Herem have decided to resign ahead of the end of their respective terms, while the latter have suggested otherwise. Pevkur admitted, however, that while Salm's departure took him by surprise, the need for more ammunition did not.

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