The Estonian Ministry of Defense plans to make amendments that will equalize reservists with regular soldiers, allowing them to participate in NATO missions, train conscripts, and perform other military duties. This was reported by the national broadcasting company ERR.
In the future, conscripts may have the opportunity to serve on Estonian Navy ships participating in international NATO units.
Over the past two years, Estonia has nearly doubled the size of its armed forces, thanks to reservists and the increased willingness of people to contribute, said Anu Randveski, the CEO of the Defense Resources Agency. She noted that the current lack of flexibility in legislation prevents many people from participating, hence the need for legislative changes.
One of the major planned changes is the creation of voluntary reserve service, emphasized the CEO of the agency.
“They could participate in international combat operations as reservists, complement rapid response forces, and of course, participate in the training of conscripts. All these activities are currently carried out by active duty servicemen. The only difference is that we are not recruiting people into the army for active duty,” she added.
Currently, conscripts in Estonia are not allowed to be deployed to war abroad or participate in international operations.
Earlier, it was reported that volunteers from Estonia have begun preparing for a hypothetical Russian invasion.
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