Summary
Narva, Estonia’s third-largest city on the Russian border, faces ongoing provocations from Moscow, including GPS jamming, drone incursions, and propaganda.
With a 96% Russian-speaking population and historical ties to Russia, concerns grow that the Kremlin may exploit ethnic divisions to justify aggression, as seen in Ukraine.
Estonia, a NATO member, has increased defense spending to 3.7% of GDP and plans border upgrades, but doubts remain over NATO’s readiness.
Local tensions persist, with propaganda battles, strained cross-border relations, and recruitment challenges among Narva’s Russian-speaking population.
I believe so, though I think that’s the case for Switzerland as well. There everyone does some military service every year, and where possible, in whatever their day job is. (One example is that the military service of civil engineers building bridges and tunnels is to implement ways of quickly destroying them with explosives in the event of invasion.)
I had heard about the bridges and tunnels being rigged and I think that’s so smart, especially for the terrain. I almost mentioned it but I wasn’t sure if that was Finland or not. I really need to better educate myself on the differences of countries in that part of the world and the Nordic countries to the north.