Estonia to establish 1,000-strong crisis unit to curb migration attacks
Over the next ten years, Russia and Belarus may intensify their hybrid attacks on Europe's eastern border. To curb such threats, Estonia is proactively establishing a 1,000-member reserve unit to defend its eastern border.
In 2021, Belarus orchestrated a hybrid attack on EU member states by directing thousands of migrants to Poland and Lithuania's borders. The European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) warns that due to Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine and the former's influence activities in Middle Eastern and African countries, such attacks may escalate over the next decade.
"What we're currently seeing from the Belarusian direction, so to speak – these are migrants from either the Middle East or various African countries," explained Marek Kohv, an expert at the International Center for Defense and Security (ICDS).
"As of right now, Belarus isn't flying them directly into Minsk as it did during its first migration attack against Poland and Lithuania," he continued. "Right now, these migrants are rather coming to Belarus via Russia. This is definitely one of the tools that Russia and Belarus have used before, and looking at the near-term future, this threat certainly won't be diminishing."
In migration attacks, people are trapped at the border when the receiving country refuses to allow the migrants to cross its border, but Belarusian authorities also refuse to let them back in.
Increasing migration pressure could affect Estonia as well.
"Estonia's border is actually relatively well protected," Kohv assured. "We've also reduced border traffic. Right now, the Narva border checkpoint is only open to pedestrians and only at certain times, and the same goes for the Luhamaa border checkpoint. But we have to keep in mind in Estonia that we're actually part of the Schengen area, and under normal circumstances, there is no border control between Schengen borders. Which means we could also be hit by migration pressure from other countries, where migrants can freely move into Estonia too."
To cope with this migration pressure, a crisis reserve unit is being established in Estonia consisting of 1,000 reservists, which will be tasked with assisting police in the event of a migration attack or civil unrest.
"This is essentially two fully equipped battalions of reservists – with crowd control gear and the corresponding weaponry – in addition to the police and the Estonian Defense League (EDL)," noted Minister of the Interior Lauri Läänemets (SDE).
"This should make our borders significantly stronger and more secure," he continued. "We conducted the first test for a platoon-sized unit this year, together with the Estonian Defense Forces (EDF) and the EDL. Over the next three years, we plan to have that 1,000 men in place."
To date, Estonia has managed to send back 90 percent of illegal immigrants – significantly better than the European average.
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Editor: Merili Nael, Aili Vahtla