Estonia and Romania have cooperation and partnership relations within NATO and work together to achieve common goals for the defense of Europe, President Alar Karis said on Thursday evening at Cotroceni Palace, noting that his country agrees that more action is needed on the Eastern Flank, given Russia's "aggressive" behavior.
"I am glad to be here in Bucharest. I would've hoped to see you in a different context, yet here it is important that two NATO allies and EU members stand together for Ukraine. We celebrated last year 100 years of diplomatic relations between Romania and Estonia. Our cooperation is a success story and so will it be in the future," Karis said after talks with President Klaus Iohannis.
The President of Estonia noted that it is necessary to adapt the advanced military presence for defense, adding that this means that NATO must have on site capabilities in order not to give Russia any opportunity to advance on the Eastern Flank.
"Estonia and Romania have cooperation and partnership relations within NATO and we are working together to achieve these common objectives of defending Europe and we have the same challenges that we face. The security situation in Europe has changed radically, which led to a more consolidated presence of NATO allies on the Eastern Flank. It sends a strong message to the aggressor. I want to give the time back, but unfortunately, it can't be done. We agree that more action is needed on this Eastern Flank. Given Russia's aggressive behaviour and military presence in Belarus, we need to adapt the advanced military presence for defence, which means that NATO must have capabilities on site in order not to give Russia any opportunity to advance on the Eastern Flank. NATO must come up with a credible response and we hope that it will do so at the next summit," Alar Karis said.
According to him, Estonia is determined to continue to apply sanctions to Russia.
"There is this package of sanctions imposed on Russia to pay the price of the aggressions committed. We are absolutely determined to continue with these sanctions, to supplement them. We know that they have an effect and this is extremely painful," president Karis added.
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