Estland/Kosovo

09-02-2010 — Yes­ter­day the cer­e­mo­ni­al low­er­ing of the Eston­ian flag took place at the Camp Olaf Rye in Mitro­vi­ca, which meant the com­ple­tion of the mis­sion of Estrif‑6 rec­ce pla­toon in Kosovo. 

„The mis­sion in Koso­vo, which had been last­ed for ten years, has been com­plet­ed. Esto­nia with the oth­er mem­bers has made a great con­tri­bu­tion to it in order to pro­vide secu­ri­ty in the world, and as a result the pres­ence of for­eign defence forces has been part­ly reduced, and mil­i­tary sup­port has been grad­u­al­ly replaced with civ­il con­tri­bu­tion,“ said the Min­is­ter of Defence Jaak Aaviksoo at the ceremony. 

„The mis­sion in Koso­vo shows the effi­cien­cy of the activ­i­ty of NATO and a suc­cess of Esto­nia in pro­vi­sion of secu­ri­ty“, Aaviksoo added. 

Also, the Min­is­ter of Defence and the Com­man­der of Nation­al Defence League Lieu­tenant Colonel Rai­vo Lumiste award­ed the medals for par­tic­i­pa­tion in inter­na­tion­al mil­i­tary oper­a­tions to the mem­bers of Estrif‑6.

Esto­nia will con­tin­ue par­tic­i­pa­tion in KFOR with a cou­ple of staff offi­cers. The Eston­ian Defence Forces have been par­tic­i­pat­ing in the mis­sion of Koso­vo since the end of 1999. 

Yes­ter­day morn­ing the Min­is­ter of Defence met with the Com­man­der of KFOR Lieu­tenant Gen­er­al Markus Bentler in Pristi­na. Also the Aaviksoo and Lieu­tenant Colonel Lumiste dined with Esto­ni­ans work­ing for the Euro­pean Union’s EULEX mission. 

Today Aaviksoo met with the EULEX man­age­ment staff and also with the Min­is­ter of For­eign Affairs and the Min­is­ter of Secu­ri­ty Forces of Kosovo. 

Text- / Bildquelle (source):
Ansprech­part­ner / con­tact:
Eston­ian Min­istry Of Defence

Addi­tion­al infor­ma­tion:
Riina Vän­dre
Advis­er to the Min­is­ter of Defence
Tel. +372 717 0101 / +372 52 92 992
riina.vandre@kmin.ee