Baltic nations must get new anti-aircraft rockets to avoid violence in Eastern Europe & 'contain' Russia, says Estonian president

To maintain peace across the continent, the EU should begin investing in its own medium-range missiles to take down warplanes and stand up to neighboring Russia. That's according to Estonia's president Kersti Kaljulaid, at least.

In an interview with Diplomaatia magazine published on Sunday, the leader said that the bloc was doing too little to defend itself against potential aggression.

"The EU meets every year and discusses the development of the defense potential of the member states. For the fifth year in a row, we sit in Brussels and say that the Baltic countries, including Estonia, spend more than [the NATO target of] two percent of our GDP, but we still do not have, for example, a decent air-defense system," she blasted.

"Is it reasonable for the sixth consecutive year to just admit this fact, or should we create a mechanism by which these costs can be redistributed?" According to her, rolling out new anti-warplane missiles would help "contain Russia."

Much of NATO's eastern flank, including countries like Estonia, Latvia and Poland, play host to large deployments of US and UK troops, as well as military hardware. In 2016, Washington was forced to deny that its missile defense systems stationed in the region posed a threat to security or represented a risk of escalation between the West and Moscow.

At the beginning of the year, Belarus confirmed it would begin receiving shipments of the advanced Russian-made S-400 anti-aircraft rocket system. Other nations that have bought the complex from Moscow have sparked Washington's wrath, with even NATO member Turkey facing sanctions for the decision. US military chiefs warn that the truck-mounted missiles "attempt to exploit" weaknesses in the country's flagship warplane, the F-35.

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