In the podcast, we pointed out that Estonia has done a good job of presenting itself as a NATO frontrunner in terms of military spending, but has neglected other commitments that need to be fulfilled too. Specifically, Estonia is not fulfilling all its NATO obligations, such as those set out in article 3.

We also went into details with simple examples, e.g. a shelter and a hiding place are two very different things:

• “public hiding places“ (an Estonian local surrogate from Scandinavian and European shelters) are places in public spaces where people can temporarily take cover. However, they are not suitable for long-term stays;
• a shelter is an underground structure with specific engineering and technical requirements. There are none in Estonia.

This state of affairs is the result of the political decisions of the last 30 years, which have unfortunately been continued by the last two governments at a time when Russia is waging a full-scale war of conquest in Europe against Ukraine.

The non-existence of civil defence in Estonia urgently needs attention and real action. You can watch the podcast episode here!