In what is a significant development, Estonia’s Defence minister Hanno Pevkur has said Indian companies are keen to invest in his country to produce ammunition. The development comes even as India markets itself as a major manufacturer of defence equipment.
Speaking to WION’s Sidhant Sibal, minister Pevkur said, “It’s not only ammunition. It’s also the Armed Vehicles production, Howitzer production. So, the cooperation is very intense. So, I really do hope that I can find the time also to come to India”.
The minister also spoke about the war in Ukraine and NATO’s defence budget expansion. Estonia has been one of the few NATO countries consistently meeting or exceeding the two per cent GDP defense spending target, and in 2024, it’s estimated to spend 3.4 per cent of GDP on defense, placing it among the top spenders in NATO relative to its economy.
Read the full interview here:
WION: How do you see India- Estonia’s defence partnership?
Hanno Pevkur: I see that, in last year, specifically, we have had very good cooperation, and I see that there is a huge opportunity to increase that cooperation. And I know that, yes, there is a very successful cooperation already today. But what is more important that we are establishing here in Estonia, the new defense industry Park, and there are a couple of big Indian companies who are interested to come to invest in Estonia to start production of, for instance, the 155-millimeter ammunition. So I’m not allowed to say yet who are the companies, but when you have the understanding that who is producing in India, 155 millimeter of ammunition, then you probably can also have the understanding it who are interested to invest into Estonia. So, but it’s not only ammunition. It’s also the Armed Vehicles production, Howitzer production. So the cooperation is very intense. So I really do hope that I can find the time also to come to India and visit some companies and to send a very clear message, Estonia is a safe environment for to invest. Estonia is a safe environment also to have defense cooperation.
WION: So moving to the situation in Europe, there is a war in Ukraine. Russia borders you as well. And how do you see the current situation. Do you see in 2025 there can be peace when it comes to the Trump presidency as well in Washington and the situation in Europe?
Hanno Pevkur: Well, of course, we all hope that the war in Ukraine will be over. We it’s clear, and we all also understand that it’s an extremely heavy burden for Ukrainian people, because they are losing the people they have to fight for their own freedom. And Russia is violating all the international norms you can find. So they are killing civilian people. They are attacking the civilian infrastructure. So this is what we see. Unfortunately, Russia is not ready to stop this war because if President Trump is saying that he wants to end this war in 24 hours, then there is one person who can do that in 24 minutes or 24 seconds. So this is Vladimir Putin sending the order to the army that we will finish this war immediately and go out from Ukraine. So from our perspective, what is important, important is that we will have fair peace. So, and this fair piece means that Russia has to take the responsibility. Of course, we will never respect that Russia has occupied some territories of Ukraine.
WION: Do you see India’s role in terms of providing peace?
Hanno Pevkur: Well, there are many leaders of the country, different countries, who are in this process. So the important thing is that Russia needs to understand that it’s not the end goal for them to take somebody’s territory by force. And the international law is very clear. And I believe that also, Russia has to look very closely into the mirror, that you cannot take one moment from the history and say that this is the right moment, because when we look into the history, Russia has been very small or Moscovia, so Moscow, which was close to Moscow, so this was the Russian state. We know that in Russian history, you have had different times. So you cannot take one part and say that this is the only part, because 1991 was the time when the Soviet Union collapsed and Ukrainian state was formed, and this should be also important for Russia to respect and accept. So let’s see.
WION: We also have seen comments by the NATO chief saying that we need to have a war mindset. Also, there have been calls for the NATO countries to increase their budget for the NATO grouping. What’s your view on that? I believe Estonia is paying much more than its geographical size.
Hanno Pevkur: Yes, we are doing more than it is agreed in NATO, but we don’t see also any other option. Russia has been and will be our neighbour, and we don’t see that they will be less hostile. Unfortunately, there was hope in 90s that Russia will be a democratic country. And of course, that means that the alliance, the strongest military alliance called NATO, has been successful for the last 75 years, and we truly believe that together with our allies, we can deter Russia. So this is why we are investing more and more. This is why also we encourage our friends in other states to invest more, because we see that it is important to deter Russia.
