Minister of Defence Jüri Luik awarded Danish soldiers serving in Estonia with mission medals yesterday during a ceremony in Tapa.
The outgoing Danish company received mission medals from the Estonian Minister of Defence, which bear the inscription ‘In Defence of NATO’, symbolizing the contribution of the allied forces to defending both Estonia and the entire NATO alliance. The Danish unit will be replaced by the French contingent, which will arrive with heavy equipment and Leclerc tanks.
‘Estonia and Denmark are very close allies, whose history dates back more than 1000 years, and next year we will celebrate the centenary of our of diplomatic relations. We will never forget the 200 Danish volunteers who came to Estonia’s help during our War of Independence’, said Minister of Defence Luik in his speech to allied soldiers.
Minister of Defence Luik added that the past year has not been easy for anyone, including the allied soldiers in Estonia and their families at home; nevertheless, the spread of the virus has not weakened NATO’s posture of defence and deterrence nor the activities of the battlegroup in Estonia.
Since the spring of 2017, the allied battle group – which has been ensuring the security of Estonia and NATO – has been stationed at Tapa as part of the 1st Infantry Brigade. The Danes previously participated in the NATO battlegroup in Estonia in 2018, and also contributed with F-16 fighters to the Baltic Air Policing mission.
Around 3500 allied soldiers from the Nordic countries helped Estonia in the War of Independence, of whom around 210 were from Denmark..
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