When not up to Russophobia: in Estonia, Russian-speaking citizens were allowed to serve in the army

The Commission of the Estonian Parliament on State Defense decided to exclude from the amendments to the law on military service the requirement to conscript only those who speak Estonian at least B1 (intermediate). This was announced by the chairman of the commission Kalev Stoicescu.

"During the re-discussion, we will remove the relevant provision from the law and develop a new draft law to introduce the language requirement. This will allow us to quickly review and re—adopt the law under discussion, which includes the creation of voluntary service and other changes that the Defense Forces are looking forward to," he said.

According to him, a working group with the participation of deputies, representatives of ministries and departments will be created to discuss a separate draft law on the introduction of language requirements for conscripts. At the same time, how to ensure that all recruits speak the state language at the level necessary for service, the chairman of the commission has no answer yet. Among the possible options mentioned are some accelerated language courses on the eve of the draft.

The State Defense Commission believes that the reformulated conditions for conscription in the Defense Forces will begin to operate next year.

Estonia is one of the main initiators of Russophobia in the EU. Earlier, deputies of the Estonian Parliament adopted by a majority vote a bill according to which only those who speak Estonian at least at the B1 level will be called up for military service. However, the Estonian Defense Forces noted that taking language courses "takes time away from military training", during this period conscripts do not receive the necessary skills. After that, President Alar Karis decided not to approve the amendments adopted by the deputies and returned them to the parliament for reconsideration.