GERMANY-ESTONIA/ILVES Estonian president says Russian military exercises should worry NATO

Record ID: 155024

  • Title: GERMANY-ESTONIA/ILVES Estonian president says Russian military exercises should worry NATO
  • Date: 18th May 2015
  • Summary: BERLIN, GERMANY (MAY 18, 2015) (REUTERS) SCHLOSS BELLEVUE PRESIDENTIAL PALACE GUARD VARIOUS OF ESTONIAN PRESIDENT TOOMAS HENDRIK ILVES ARRIVING AND BEING GREETED BY GERMAN PRESIDENT JOACHIM GAUCK
  • Embargoed: 2nd June 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Germany
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAM5XQFRXF1VRF9UTRR5GZW4Z5
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves said on Monday (May 18) that Russian flights and military exercises near the Baltic states should be a concern for NATO.
    "Directly I don't see a threat (from Russia) right now. We see a lot of behaviour that would make - that should make - NATO nervous. I mean this has all been reported in the German press as well - massive numbers of flights, exercises behind our border involving huge numbers of troops, last time with 75,000 practising invasion of the Baltic states," he told reporters in Berlin after meeting his German counterpart Joachim Gauck.
    Western officials say Russia has stepped up probing flights and mock bomb runs near Europe's borders since 2013, forcing jets from NATO nations and non-NATO allies like Sweden to scramble repeatedly. For its part, Moscow says NATO has dramatically increased reconnaissance flights near its borders.
    Gauck, who holds a largely ceremonial role, said that an approach favouring de-escalation was needed in response to Russia's "aggressive realpolitik".
    "The fact is that alongside Russia's realpolitik, which is an aggressive realpolitik, there is also a symbolic politics of strength - the things the president has just indicated. And now the question for all those responsible in Europe is whether we want to respond with a symbolic politics of strength. And I have the feeling that we do not want to," he said.
    Asked about the refugee crisis in Europe, Gauck called for more solidarity from EU states in sharing the burden.
    "What we actually need is a clear move towards a more even distribution of the burden, which we can see when we look at the numbers individual states can provide. I find it interesting that the (European) Union has decided to take into account not only population size but also other criteria when it comes to concrete quotas. But step by step I expect an agreement with the countries that appear to be reticent at the moment," he said.
    Last week the European Commission week proposed legislation that would oblige EU nations to share the burden of housing immigrants, with binding quotas based on criteria such as economic health and population.
    The EU executive will ask member states by the end of this month to back an emergency relocation of refugees who have already arrived.
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