Estonia urges US to send fighter jets to Baltic states to defend its airspace amid concerns that Russia may be preparing an attack on Ukraine, which could lead to a confrontation with the Baltic region, it said today the country’s Minister of Defense.
“There is a possibility that if Ukraine falls the Baltic states will be next,” Kale Lanet told Reuters after a meeting with US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius.
The three Baltic states (Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia), former Soviet republics but now members of NATO as well as the European Union, do not use fighter jets and rely on NATO to police their airspace.
NATO allies have maintained many fighters in the area as part of an alternating airspace surveillance mission since 2004.
“They are patrolling the airspace, but they do not have the right to attack or defend. But we have to talk about air defense, which means that, in our area, they (need) more fighters. We have to fill the gap,” he said. the minister.
Austin vowed that Washington would side with its Baltic allies but declined to say whether it would agree to the request for more troops.
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