The Netherlands and Germany will send military personnel to Estonia to establish a NATO defense headquarters. This was reported by sources to NOS following a publication by the ANP agency.
This operation is expected to involve several dozen soldiers from a joint Dutch-German unit. The Ministry of Defense has not officially confirmed this yet.
Prime Minister Rutte also declined to confirm the details but stated that the establishment of a NATO headquarters in Estonia is "something we have been working on for a long time to strengthen NATO's eastern flank in light of the hybrid threat from Russia." According to him, the plan will be detailed in the near future, after which the Minister of Defense will inform the Dutch Parliament.
Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania consider themselves particularly vulnerable after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Currently, the Baltic states fall under the responsibility of the NATO headquarters in Poland.
The main goal of establishing a headquarters in Estonia is to accelerate NATO's response in the event of a potential Russian attack. In such a situation, the speed of action is considered critically important, as the Baltic states can be captured relatively quickly due to their small size.
