Estonia remembers Nazi collaboration with military training

The “Erna Raid” annual international military exercise has begun in Estonia.

It commemorates a reconnaissance group that worked with German military intelligence during World War II.

Moscow believes that the exercise is an attempt to glorify Estonia’s collaboration with Nazi Germany.

The Erna unit was a Finnish Army formation of Estonian volunteers that spied behind Red Army lines.

The games have been held since 1994, with teams from around the world taking part.

European Parliament former member Glyn Ford says that only a small minority of Europeans support events that glorify the Nazi past.

“It is clearly both offensive and bizarre that while there is a new enthusiasm for extreme sports, it’s actually being based around a Nazi collaborators organization,” Ford told RT. “From World War II I would have though that generally across the European Union the vast majority of people would be horrified about what’s going on. There always are a small minority of people who actually sympathize with the Nazis, but they are extremely small these days, and I can’t imagine that anywhere there would be charitable support for this event.”