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Estonia to withdraw from Baltic Naval Squadron

Xinhua, January 9, 2015 Adjust font size:

The Estonian government is considering unilaterally leaving the Baltic Naval Squadron (BALTRON), Estonian Public Broadcasting (ERR) reported on Thursday.

According to the ERR report, Estonian government representative has told Estonian TeleVision (ETV), an underline of ERR, that BALTRON has been a successful project, but Estonia is unable to commit resources in the current form, because its Defense Forces are investing into a permanent minesweeping unit instead.

The squadron was inaugurated in 1998 and its main responsibility is to improve the co-operation between Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in the areas of naval defense and security. It also assures constant readiness to contribute units to NATO-led operations.

Each Baltic state has appointed one or two ships to BALTRON for a certain period and staff members for one year. The main responsibility of BALTRON, in particular, has been to conduct mine countermeasures operations and training in Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian waters. Endit