During a recent two-day visit, NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer pledged the region will enjoy the same safety as any other alliance member.
"NATO doesn't know A-grade and B-grade allies," he said. "NATO only knows allies."
He pledged NATO would quickly fill the air-defense gap in the Baltic states, which have no fighter planes of their own and just a handful of anti-aircraft weapons.
The chairman of the foreign affairs committee in Estonia's parliament, Marko Mihkelson, contends the Kremlin is angry because it wanted to keep the region a Russian sphere of influence.
But, he said, the Baltic states' membership in NATO, as well as their entry into the EU on May 1, will drive home the new reality to Russia.
"Estonia is no longer caught between anyone," he said. "But it'll take a long time for Russia to realize this ... that Estonia is firmly entrenched in the West."
RSS