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Europe must meet the challenges of Russian aggression as a “different kind of war,” Estonian President Alar Karis said during an interview with Newsweek. Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 after claiming the defense of the breakaway regions Luhansk and Donetsk, launching an attack across the Eastern European country. Should no peace deal materialize in the next few months, the war will enter its fourth year, with both countries losing tens of thousands of men to the conflict. Ukraine has relied heavily on NATO assistance, receiving weapons and training on weapons including F-16 fighter planes, while seeking an additional boost with U.S.-produced Tomahawk missiles that would allow it to strike deep into Russia, although the United States has so far resisted that step. Estonia borders Russia as part of the Baltic States, which also includes Latvia and Lithuania. The country is a little over 400 miles from Moscow and around just 97 miles from St. Petersburg. Russia over the past two months has allegedly harassed neighboring countries that are members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), most recently flying aircraft over Lithuania and Estonia’s airspace in what has been labeled a blatant breach of sovereignty and international law. The lack of any direct military action against those nations has raised questions about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s long-term goals and thinking, which Karis said is merely part of the unusual way that Russia now wages war. President of the Republic of Estonia Alar Karis, pose during the Artificial Intelligence Action Summit at the Grand Palais in Paris on February 11. (Photo by JOEL SAGET / AFP) (Photo by JOEL SAGET/AFP via Getty Images) “I think Russia generates anxiety everywhere,” Karis said, adding that “these drones are already in Denmark and other places, so we should all be prepared” for “a different kind of war.” “Of course, we have certain experience from the past with Russia, we know something, but nevertheless…it’s our concern as a Western world, and this war in Ukraine, it is not only a war against Ukraine, it’s against Europe, it’s against the whole Western world,” the Estonian president said. “Putin is testing all the time,” Karis said. “We have his drone in Poland, drones in Romania, in Denmark. We have this fighter jet inclusion in Estonia—this is a hybrid war. There’s also GPS jamming and so forth. This is what Russia is doing.” “I don’t believe that Russia is going to attack a NATO country or any other country in Europe, but still, we have to be prepared to deter, but Russia doesn’t test Article 5 on any country,” he noted. Karis also highlighted that “there are certain elements” of war in play, but that life has generally continued as if there is no war —even in Ukraine. Estonia’s President Alar Karis holds a joint press conference with the NATO secretary general at the NATO headquarters in Brussels on September 3. (Photo by Nicolas Tucat/AFP via Getty Images) President Donald Trump has pursued a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine since before even returning to office earlier this year. Trump reached out to Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the weeks following his victory in the 2024 U.S. presidential election. But no deal has materialized, and Trump at times over the past few months has mused whether Putin is “tapping me along” and actually seeks peace. Most recently, Trump had agreed to meet with Putin in a second face-to-face meeting after their August summit in Alaska, but he called the meeting off just days later. Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Saturday that he would only seek a meeting with Putin if he believed he could walk away with a deal, having come away from the August meeting empty-handed, a move that brought Trump heavy criticism following the lavish red carpet treatment he provided to Putin for the visit. Karis remains skeptical a deal will materialize, telling Newsweek that “Putin, we know it already for a long time, Putin doesn’t want peace, that’s for sure.” “It’s very difficult to predict what’s the next step, but one is sure – Ukraine wants peace, we want peace … everybody wants peace, but Putin doesn’t,” Karis said. Estonia’s President Alar Karis (C) chairs the 20th Arraiolos Group Meeting in Tallinn on October 10. (Photo by Raigo Pajula/AFP via Getty Images) One issue that remains at the forefront of discussions between the U.S. and European allies is the defense spending commitment among NATO allies. Trump even in his first administration took issue with the lack of defense spending among NATO members, which initially was 2 percent of a country’s GDP, then increased to 3 percent before NATO members in June agreed to a new minimum spend of 5 percent. Estonia and the other Baltic states are among the highest spenders in NATO on defense devel...
