Russia is challenging European stability and security, promoting strong-arm tactics and eroding the international rule-based order, Estonian President Alar Karis said on Wednesday
HELSINKI (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th November, 2021) Russia is challenging European stability and security, promoting strong-arm tactics and eroding the international rule-based order, Estonian President Alar Karis said on Wednesday.
Autocratic regimes in Europe are "eroding" the international order based on rules and norms, Karis stated at the Annual Baltic Conference on Defence in Tallinn. He noted that the use of any means, including military pressure, hybrid warfare, cyber weapons and information campaigns, has been used more frequently to achieve political goals.
"The Belarusian hybrid attack against Poland and Lithuania and Latvia. The build-up of Russian forces on the borders of Ukraine, and attempts to use energy blackmail in Moldova. Russian challenge to stability and security in Europe is less and less disguised," Karis said in his welcoming speech, published by the presidential office.
Under these circumstances, the Estonian leader said he expected NATO to play an integral role in Europe and urged the United States to ensure security in the region. Toward this end, Karis invited the alliance to strengthen its positions in the Baltic states and Poland.�
Karis also expressed his support for Poland, Latvia and Lithuania in the wake of the migrant crisis on the borders with Belarus.
In recent months, Poland, Latvia, and Lithuania have reported an increase in the number of people trying to illegally cross the border from Belarus, accusing Minsk of using migrants as a "hybrid weapon" and orchestrating a crisis to get back at Brussels for sanctions against Alexander Lukashenko. The Belarusian leader has rejected the accusations, saying his cash-strapped country can no longer afford tight border controls.
Poland and several other countries have also accused Russia of instigating the crisis, an allegation that Moscow has firmly denied.
