Press Conference of
U.S. Secretary of Defense William Perry
Tallinn Town Hall
November 20, 1995

Secretary Perry: Let me begin by thanking Minister Öövel for hosting this most productive visit. This is our third meeting in this last year, as we work together to build a cooperative program in defense between the United States and Estonia. My first visit to Tallinn was five years ago. It is just as beautiful now, but more prosperous. During these past five years, Estonia has made significant progress in building a strong democracy and a free market. Estonia is also making significant progress on the very difficult task of building a modern, professional military. Through participation in the U.N. mission in Croatia, the Baltic Battalion, and the Partnership for Peace, Estonia has shown that it is ready and able to work for peace and stability in Europe.

During my visit here, I met with the President, Prime Minister, members of Parliament, the Defense Minister, and during these meetings, I've discussed how the United States and Estonia can strengthen the bilateral defense relationship between our two countries.

There are already five Estonians training at U.S. military academies. The next year, we expect to significantly strengthen the training program, and we plan to double the amount of money allocated to the training of Estonian military officers in the United States. We've already had substantial discussions relative to improving Estonia's air traffic control, and we'll be moving ahead this year with a program to help Estonia manage and control this very important system. We already have a military liaison team here, and in the next year, we will station a defense attache. We are supporting and will continue to support Estonia's participation in the "Partnership for Peace."

This summer I presided over the opening ceremonies of "Cooperative Nugget," which is a peace-keeping exercise in the United States. At this ceremony, fourteen platoons marched together, each of them bearing the flag of their own nation, and the flag of Estonia was among these fourteen nations. After the ceremony I went to meet and talk with the platoon leader from Estonia and the soldiers from Estonia. They had been led to this exercise by General Einseln, and he, the Minister, and all Estonians can be proud of the very fine performance that the Estonian platoon made.

All of these cooperative programs that I have described, and "Partnership for Peace," will help the United States and Estonia to work together to improve Estonia's security and to promote peace and stability. These programs will also help speed Estonia's integration into Europe's security structure. And of course they will help make Estonia more secure. Estonia's security is important to the United States. Indeed, the security and stability in Estonia affect the security and stability of all of Europe.

• Q: (Lisa Trei, Wall Street Journal) Several officials have been quietly telling the Baltics to scale down their expectations about joining NATO and settle for European Union membership instead. Do you think that this is the most realistic course of action, given that Russia is vehemently opposed to NATO expansion, particularly for the Baltic States?

• A: I'd like to make two comments about the accession to NATO membership. The first is that the process of becoming a NATO member is a deliberate and lengthy process. It will be several years before any nation becomes a member, is added to the NATO membership. But the standards for membership, which is democratic government, market reform, civilian control of military, friendly relations with neighbors, and compatibility with NATO military -- those five standards, Estonia is making as good progress as any nation towards those standards.

  Finally I'd like to comment that, notwithstanding some comments you might have read, NATO is not considering nations in tiers or in groups. Each nation is considered on its individual merits as to the way it meets these five standards which I have described. The final decision will be made by the parliament of the nation that wants to join, plus the sixteen parliaments of the NATO nations. Those are the only nations that will determine the final outcome.

• Q: (Baltic Independent and Reuters) Mr. Perry, Russia has proposed some changes to the Conventional Forces in Europe agreement which would allow for Russian troops to be stationed next to Estonia. If these proposals are taken into account and these changes are made, how is this going to affect NATO expansion eastwards, in particular NATO expansion to Estonia? Thank you.

• A: The first comment I want to make about the CFE is that I believe that this treaty is the foundation of European security.

  Already under this treaty, more than 40,000 pieces of equipment have been eliminated, including 11,000 in Russia alone. The modifications to the treaty which are being discussed are designed to preserve the treaty. The specific issues being discussed do not involve any increase in the total amount of equipment or weapon systems. Rather, it involves discussions of allocation of this equipment in different regions of the country.

  And there what is being considered is not increases in a given region, but resisting decreases, since the treaty as originally written would call for decreases in certain areas, in certain oblasts in Russia. Overall, these issues are being discussed in Vienna now, and I am optimistic that we will reach an accommodation which will allow us to sustain and continue this very important treaty.

• Q: (Baltic Independent/Reuters) Just a follow-up question. Even if there are (inaudible) increases in general numbers but only allocation of the forces next to Estonia, and Estonian political leaders say this is very bad for its prospects for joining NATO.

  Would you agree with that, Mr. Perry?

• A: This will have no influence on the issues now being considered by NATO relative to new NATO membership.

• Q: (inaudible) What kind of army or (inaudible) should these have? I mean, all (inaudible) these armies are very small.

• A: Estonia and the other Baltic countries are all making very important moves now towards professionalization of their military forces while maintaining them under civilian control. Those are important not only because they are part of the criteria for NATO expansion, but because they benefit the countries in and of themselves. Estonia is making very good progress in this direction.

  The other area is achieving compatibility with NATO military forces. This does not mean all new equipment at all. It simply means the ability to operate together with NATO forces. The principal issue with interoperability is the ability to communicate together effectively from Estonian military forces to American or British or French military forces. This is being tested in these exercises; in particular the exercise Cooperative Nugget which I attended, demonstrated the ability of Estonian forces to communicate effectively with American forces. It was demonstrated that this could be done by adjusting procedures and protocols, and it was not necessary to change hardware.

• Q: Mr. Perry, sir, what is your latest information on the peace talks in ex-Yugoslavia, and when do you expect the ... ?

• A: I attended the meetings in Dayton on Friday. I talked with the presidents who were there participating in the discussions, and their delegations. This gave me a keen appreciation of the great difficulty that Ambassador Holbrooke and Secretary Christopher have in trying to reach a final peace agreement. But I also learned that the parties very much wanted to end this war and get a peace agreement. Therefore, I am hopeful that they will be able to resolve their differences and, maybe even today, be successful in signing a peace agreement. This is a war that already has killed 200,000 people. It is time to stop the killing. I appreciate the differences of the parties, but it is crucially important to resolve those differences so that the war can stop. If it stops, if the peace agreement is reached, then I expect that there will be a NATO peace implementation force.

  The United States expects to participate in that force, and I am looking forward to the participation of Estonia as well.

• Q: (Michael Tarm, AP) Does the situation in Bosnia, in the war there, has that been a cautionary tale for the Baltic states, that small, less important nations are more vulnerable, and that the West wouldn't rush to their aid (inaudible).

• A: I think the Balkans do represent a cautionary tale. And it represents the tragedy that can occur when ethnic differences and nationalist aspirations inflame passions and cause people to take actions -- violent military actions -- against their neighbors.

  Even if we're successful in reaching a peace agreement now, that will not restore the lives of the 200,000 people who have been killed, and the hatred which has been generated by that war that has gone on for almost four years will adversely affect the ability of people to live together and work out their differences for decades to come. I do not believe there is any parallel here with the situation in the Baltic countries. All the nations are working constructively to achieve peace and stability not only in the region but as it affects all of Europe. I have great optimism for the future of Estonia and the Baltics.

• Q: (inaudible -- Russia has expressed the opinion that if the Baltics join NATO....)

• A: The statement that has come out from some anonymous spokesman in Russia threatening Estonia or the other Baltics nations, I believe, is reprehensible. The United States has made this position very clear to Russia -- I have personally discussed with with the Russian Defense Minister. I was gratified that the Russian Defense Minister disavowed that statement and said it is not the policy of Russia or the policy of the Russian Defense Ministry. We consider a free and independent Estonia important not only to Estonia, but important to the security and stability of Europe. At the same time the U.S. is working very hard to maintain what we call a pragmatic partnership with Russia, partnership meaning that we hold out our hand and try to work together with them to try to achieve goals of mutual interest.

  That we work together with them, for example, in joint exercises which we had in the United States just a month ago, that we work together to facilitate and expedite the destruction of nuclear weapons and missiles, that we encourage their full participation in the Partnership for Peace, that we encourage a security consultative commission between Russia and NATO, that we encourage Russia's participation in the peace implementation force in Bosnia. All of those are important for developing a constructive relationship with Russia, a partnership with Russia.

  But this also must be pragmatic, and we must make clear and do make clear to Russia when we disagree and strongly disagree with actions they have taken. And that is why we say that statements like the statement that came out from one Russian about Estonia's security is simply not acceptable.

• Q: Is it (inaudible) for 300,000 Russian-speaking speakers for whom Estonian has not been able to provide the documents so they are legally in country, can you understand any reason for Russians to say they want to protect these people? And the second question.....

• A: Let me address that question. We are concerned about, the United States is concerned on the protection of minority rights in countries all over the world. In particular, both the United States State Department and the OSCE have specifically looked at the minority rights in Estonia. Both the OSCE and our State Department have concluded that Estonia is protecting the rights of Russians and other minorities. Indeed, Vice President Gore stated that Estonia has been a model for the world in integrating its non-citizens. Thank you.