Estonia calls on reservists to participate in military exercises

The Estonian army held emergency exercises for reservists of territorial defense units on Friday.

More than 800 reservists and members of the paramilitary Estonian Defense League took part in the exercises in Haapsalu.

The government stressed that this is an exercise and that there is no immediate military threat to Estonia.

Lääne District Commander Major Andres Valli said training during the exercises was adapted to the combat experience in Ukraine.

“Based on the lessons of the Ukrainian war, we are using more small unit tactics and training for distributed field combat operations with an emphasis on the use of anti-tank systems,” he said. “so that there would be not only anti-tank units, but also infantry personnel who could use the anti-tank weapons systems.”

The exercises were held after the government declared on Thursday that it was conducting the exercises to “achieve the combat readiness of the designated units”.

Estonia relies on reservists to form its army. Therefore, it regularly organizes peacetime exercises to maintain and strengthen the reserve structure’s responsiveness.