VILNIUS, September 18. /TASS/. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization has instructed Estonia’s armed forces to get ready for a potential armed conflict between the military bloc and Moscow, Maj. Gen. Vahur Karus, chief of the Joint Headquarters of the Estonian Defense Forces, said in an interview with ERR Radio.

"Our deep strike capability is fully a part of NATO plans today, and NATO tells us that we need to take care of certain targets, which is when they can come and take the next steps," he said. Karus explained that previously, the NATO defense plan for Estonia involved holding out independently for ten days until the alliance’s backup arrives. The military official said that the NATO’s new instructions are "a fundamental change."

He also noted that, as opposed to a decade ago, Estonia can unequivocally count on allied units, stationed on its soil, to immediately participate in a conflict with Russia. "The situation by today is that all the allied troops we have here are integrated into our military plans. We know the tools they'll be bringing and what their tasks would be," the Estonian military official concluded.

On June 13, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova asserted that the Western military bloc had been preparing for a potential armed conflict with Russia for a long time. According to her, members of the alliance justify their activities by the necessity to "repel the Russian threat." The diplomat stressed that military budgets are being bolstered and the economy of NATO countries is being militarized while the alliance has no aggressive plans with regard to Russia.