US to expand special ops training center in Estonia near the Russian border

Stars & Stripes:
The Pentagon intends to spend more than $15 million to improve working conditions for special operations forces on missions in the Baltics, where elite U.S. troops have been a quiet but steady presence in recent years.

The Pentagon’s 2019 budget calls for establishing new operations and training facilities in Estonia, one of NATO’s smallest and most exposed member states that shares a border with Russia.

“The facilities essentially provide administrative and logistics space to enable our SOF to continue conducting bilateral training with our allies,” said Maj. Michael Weisman, Special Operations Command Europe spokesman.

Since 2014, SOCEUR has had forces working with allies in the Baltics to help bolster local militaries. With no end in sight to a broader U.S. military campaign to reinforce NATO’s eastern flank, officials said there was a need for upgrades for the special operators. The facilities, which serve as a small base of operations in Baltics, are on an undisclosed Estonian military site.

Unlike other U.S military efforts in the region, the military offers few details about what its special operations troops are up to beyond general statements about working with allies. SOCEUR declined to say how many of its troops are currently in the Baltics, and details of the training are generally not available.
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Because the Baltic countries are relatively small they tend to rely on small unit operations that could engage in insurgency operations if Russia were to invade.  Because countries like Estonia were part of the former Soviet Union they tend to have some knowledge of the equipment and tactics used by the Russians.

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