TALLINN, Aug 18, BNS - Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves reiterated to the German daily Die Weelt his view that the alliance made a big mistake by not giving the NATO membership action plan to Georgia.
"At its summit in Bucharest in the spring NATO decided not to give the NATO membership action plan to Georgia. Russia interpreted this as a green light to going against Georgia," Ilves said.
The president said that the membrship action plan did not automatically mean that it would be followed by membership in the alliance and a country could wait for membership for 15 years or even longer.
"But by giving the membership action plan to Tbilisi NATO would have given an important signal to Moscow," Ilves said.
In the interview given to the German daily Ilves reiterated his view that Estonia and the other Baltic countries were not immediately in danger after the events in Georgia.
"After all, we are members of NATO," he said.
In Ilves' opinion it was not serious to assert as if what was now taking place in Georgia was Moscow's response to the entry of Georgian forces into Southern Ossetia.
"The mobilization of Russian forces already started in May. The prominent Russian military expert Pavel Felgenhauer writes about in Novaya Gazeta. It is not possible to bring into readiness 12,000 soldiers and 1,000 tanks in a few hours without long and thorough preparations," the Estonian president said.
He quoted the example that rapid reaction forces of the European Union needed about three months to achieve combat readiness.
Tallinn newsroom, +372 610 8862, sise@bns.ee
