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Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur said Friday that the integration of Estonian and Finnish coastal missile defense systems will allow, if necessary, to block Russian warships from the Gulf of Finland.
In an interview granted to the Finnish newspaper Iltalethi, the minister underlined the importance of coordinating these systems in view of Finland’s upcoming accession to NATO, a measure decided this week with his Finnish counterpart, Antti Kaikkonen.
The range of the Estonian and Finnish missiles is greater than the range of the Gulf of Finland. That means we can link our missile defenses together and share all of our information,” he said.
This measure would allow block access of Russian warships to the Gulf —on whose coast is the Russian city of St. Petersburg—, which at its greatest width is 120 kilometers, and at its smallest, about 52 kilometers.
The Baltic Sea will be a NATO inland sea when Finland and Sweden join NATO. Compared to the current moment, the situation is changing,” said Pevkur.
According to Iltalehti, Estonia has Israeli Blue Spear missiles, which can hit a target 290 kilometers away, while the Finnish navy’s missiles have a range of 100 kilometers.
Source: Observadora
