NATO drills at former Soviet nuclear submarine base in Estonia "symbolic" - Ilves
TALLINN. June 14 (Interfax) - With its withdrawal from the Soviet Union Estonia has gained the right to choose its own allies, Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves said.
"Some 15 years ago NATO was a dream for Estonia. Now we see and know that NATO is visible and tangible, it is part of Estonia," the president said during his visit to the site of NATO's BALTOPS exercise in a former secret Soviet town of Paldiski on Thursday. The exercise aims at practicing amphibious assault landing by NATO troops in Estonia.
"It is symbolic that one of the biggest recent exercises, BALTOPS, during which forces are practicing the U.S. Navy expeditionary warfare skills in crises," is taking place in Estonia on June 14, the day when thousands of people were deported from here 71 years ago, the Estonian president said.
"The former secret town, which was a training center and a naval base for Soviet nuclear submarines, has become an open town where Estonia gladly meets its allies and asserts our alliance and faith in the common values, democracy and freedom," Ilves said.