Last week in the former Soviet, and now proud and independent republic of Estonia, a solemn opening ceremony of the United American-Estonian military base Emari was held.
The creation of the first such military facility in the Eastern European state was fully funded under the European Deterrence Initiative program, adopted many years in advance, the purpose of which is to keep the Russian Federation from attempting aggression in neighboring countries.
Almost $ 38 million was spent on the construction of the base. The runway, taxiways and aircraft parking areas were repaired, hangars for maintenance of airplanes and helicopters were erected. There is a construction of residential buildings in which the American military and their families will live. Fully complete the arrangement of the military camp should be in the spring of next year.
The European Deterrence Initiative program started in 2014 as a reaction of the West to the return of the Republic of Crimea to the Russian Federation. Since then, the multinational exercises of the NATO bloc have been regularly held at Emari airfield, the largest of which are the Saber Strike and BALTOPS maneuvers.
The air base is also used by the alliance aircraft to control the airspace not only of Estonia, but also of the neighboring Baltic states - Latvia and Lithuania.
The implementation of the European Deterrence Initiative program next year was allocated 6.5 billion US dollars.
In addition to the Estonian military facility, the airbase near the town of Kecskemet in Hungary is intensively reconstructed. It is planned to spend as much as 56 million US dollars for these works. The runway, the aviation fuel storage area are being repaired, parking is being prepared for receiving such aircraft as F-15 Eagle fighter jets, A-10 Thunderbolt II attack aircraft and C-5 Super Galaxy transports.
The next step is the reconstruction of the military bases of Malacky in Slovakia and Rygge in Norway.
In confirmation of Russia's concern, the North Atlantic bloc is indeed increasing the presence of its armed forces on the approaches of our state.
