The Estonian Foreign Intelligence Service has published its annual report on external threats. The main threats to the country are pandemic coronavirus, China, Russia and Belarus
According to the Estonian intelligence, as a result of the political crisis in 2020, Belarus has allegedly become a military district of Russia, and now this “Belarusian military district” poses a direct threat to its closest NATO neighbours.
The country’s Foreign Intelligence Service notes that the next Russian-Belarusian military exercise “West” will take place this year, and “the Lukashenko government will be increasingly dependent on Russian support, including in the military sphere.”
“Given its geographical location and territorial coverage, Belarus is a necessary buffer zone for Russia and provides it with tasks in the western strategic direction. In times of crisis or war, Russia can use Belarus as a bridgehead and deploy its troops there, blocking NATO access to the Suvalki Corridor, which provides traffic in the airspace of neighbouring countries and establishes a land link to the Kaliningrad region of Russia”, – the report reads.