"When it will be published, I don't know. But work is in progress," Brig. Gen. Martin Herem, endorsed by the government as the next commander of the Estonian Defence Forces (EDF), told Postimees.

According to the paper, it is the Ministry of the Interior that is coordinating work on the brochure.

News that Sweden is preparing to do the same made headlines in several European media this week. The Swedish brochure will be sent to 4.7 million households and inform the public how they can take part in the "total defense" of the country during a war, and secure water, food, and heating.

The booklet with the working title "If crisis or war comes" will also offer guidance regarding the threats of cyberattacks, terrorism, and climate change, the Financial Times reported.

Pamphlets informing citizens how to prepare and act in a national crisis, particularly in the case of nuclear war, were issued regularly to households in Sweden between 1943 and 1991. At the end of the cold war the booklet was considered redundant, and its distribution ceased.

Plenty of countries have published similar publications, and in some cases run whole campaigns. They usually focus on behavior in case of an attack, with instructions what to do ranging from how to avoid nuclear fallout to what to do with clothing, food, and other goods in the case of a suspected chemical attack.

Sweden recently held its biggest military exercise in more than two decades, when it ran war games in September last year involving 19,000 troops as well as allies from Finland, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, France, Norway, and the United States.

Swedish officials as well as military commanders have repeatedly said that the security situation in the area is changing, and that with Russia's asserted and often provocative behavior there is the need to update military equipment and procedures.

The country also voted to reinstate compulsory military service last year.