The range of anti-missile defense of both countries allows full control of the Gulf of Finland.
Minister of Defense Hanno Pevkur spoke about plans to integrate the coast guard of Estonia and Finland, which will allow to close Russian ships' access to the Baltic Sea.
“The integration of anti-missile defenses of Finland and Estonia will allow to close the Gulf of Finland to the Russian military ships The Baltic Sea, with the accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO, will become the internal sea of the alliance,” he said in an interview with Iltalehti.
A preliminary agreement, according to Pevkur, was reached during a meeting with his Finnish colleague Antti Kaikkonen .
The range of the missiles of Finland and Estonia exceeds the width of the gulf and makes it possible to keep it under control, the minister reminded.
Last fall, Estonia decided to buy Israeli Blue Spear missiles to suppress naval targets. The missiles have a range of 290 kilometers and can hit targets anywhere on the coast of Finland in the Gulf.
The MTO 85M anti-ship missile of the Finnish Navy has a range of over 100 kilometers and is equipped with a search radar head. Thus, the Finnish military can control the water area up to the northern coast of Estonia.
Also, in the coming weeks, the headquarters of the new NATO division will be established in Estonia, five of its brigades will be stationed on the territory of the country. It is not yet known how many soldiers will be permanently stationed in Estonia.
“We will not only create a divisional structure, but also draw up new defense plans for Estonia and the Baltics,” Pevkur noted.
Estonia will also purchase the US has anti-tank missiles, new coastal defense missiles, HIMARS missile launchers and others.
Read also: Sweden on the way to NATO: how will Russia respond?
On August 9, the US president Joe Biden signed protocols on the ratification of NATO membership of Finland and Sweden. Another two-thirds of NATO members have made similar decisions.
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Sweden and Finland announced their intention to join NATO in May, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine caused a sudden change of attitude towards joining the bloc. On June 29, the Alliance officially started the process of accepting both countries.
