Estonia’s weekend warriors: The SAS civilians urging Brits to get off the sofa and learn how to fight
Citizen soldiers on an Estonian island are dubbed “the SAS” because they train with weapons and war paint on Saturdays and Sundays.
The volunteers – many of them middle-aged dads and the odd mum – said British civilians should also consider getting off their sofas and learning how to fight as the threat from Russia grows.
It echoes a rallying cry last month from the outgoing head of the British army, General Sir Patrick Sanders, who said civilians need to be trained to fight a future war – an idea immediately dismissed by Rishi Sunak’s government.
“You know, we love our freedom,” said Major Tanel Kapper, who commands the Estonian Defence League forces on the island of Hiiuma.
He was speaking as his troops weaved between a huddle of tall, skinny pine trees, then dropped to one knee, before taking aim with their rifles and opening fire.
“We lost it [freedom] once already, so we don’t want to lose it another time. It’s wrong to think that somebody else is coming to fight your war if you are not ready to defend yourself.”
Civilians in Estonia are preparing
Estonia, which shares a 180-mile border with Russia and only won back its independence from the former Soviet Union in 1991, understands the danger from Moscow all too well.
It is why Estonian military chiefs doubled the size of their territorial defence force – the people who would support the much smaller professional army in a crisis – to 20,000 personnel following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine almost exactly two years ago.
That number comprises about 10,000 Defence League volunteers and the new addition of some 10,000 former conscript soldiers who are part of the military reserve.
At the ‘friendship bridge’, on the Russian border
Major-General Ilmar Tamm, the head of the Defence League, said the main role of his troops is to deter an attack by President Vladimir Putin’s forces.
Linking NATO security to what happens in Ukraine though, he warned that the chance of such an act of aggression would grow if Russia’s forces prevail in their fight against Kyiv.
“How seriously [do] we take the support to Ukraine?” Major General Tamm said in an interview at his headquarters in the capital, Tallinn.
“If we give up in Ukraine, so are we giving up also our own defence? So… it’s quite critical and should be not separated,” he said.
A ferry trip from the mainland through chunks of icy sea, the island of Hiiuma is a densely forested beauty spot off Estonia’s west coast that is home to about 9,000 residents and becomes a popular holiday destination in the summer.
On board the ferry to Hiiuma
But it could also become a key target for Russia in any future confrontation with NATO.
Pointing to a map, Major Kapper said Moscow could use the island’s vantage point in the Baltic Sea to cut off access to the Baltic States via the vital waterway.
It is perhaps one reason why British soldiers, based in Estonia as part of a NATO mission to deter Russian threats, visit the island on occasion for training exercises.
Sky News was invited at the weekend to watch around 20 Defence League volunteers practise how to attack an enemy inside a frozen patch of forestland – a challenge that is made much harder when trying to shoot through lots of spindly trees.
The men and one woman loaded their rifles with live ammunition and took it in turn to practise an ambush.
Training over, they drove back to their makeshift barracks, fitted with a sauna – common in all Estonian military quarters – which is used to warm up freezing limbs after hours spent running around in sub-zero temperatures.
Last Sunday afternoon, there was no time to thaw in comfort as the volunteers had to dismantle and clean their rifles before heading back to their civilian lives.
A soldier during practice
Polishing part of his gun, Taavi, a father of two, with his face painted green, said he decided to join the Defence League along without about 14 friends last year in part as a response to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The construction worker said he did not want conflict, but was ready for combat if Russia invades.
“I have to take the weapon and try to protect my family, my home,” he said.
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Asked why defending his island was so important to him, Taavi said: It’s my home. It’s easy… it’s a good place.”
With the volunteers one of the only lines of defence on the island, Major Kapper said the tempo of training had been doubled to two weekends a month.
He had a warning for President Putin if he tried to attack: “It will be a bloody mess if you come here. We will definitely kill as many of you as possible.”
As for whether he had a message to other NATO countries like the UK that maybe are not doing as much to bolster their defences, the officer said: “To wake up. It won’t stop in Ukraine. If we don’t stop them, then they will come further and further.”
More than 100 politicians from 24 different countries, including the UK, the US and the EU, have written a joint letter condemning China over the “arbitrary detention and unfair trial” of Jimmy Lai, a tycoon and pro-democracy campaigner.
The parliamentarians, led by senior British Conservative MP Alicia Kearns, are “urgently” demanding the immediate release of the 77-year-old British citizen, who has been held in solitary confinement at a maximum security prison in Hong Kong for almost four years.
The letter – which will be embarrassing for Beijing – was made public on the eve of Mr Lai’s trial resuming and on the day after British Prime Minister Keir Starmer met Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of a G20 summit of economic powers in Brazil.
It also comes as Hong Kong jailed 45 pro-democracy activists.
The group of politicians, who also include representatives from Canada, Australia, Spain, Germany, Ukraine and France, said Mr Lai’s treatment was “inhumane”.
“He is being tried on trumped-up charges arising from his peaceful promotion of democracy, his journalism and his human rights advocacy,” they wrote in the letter, which has been seen by Sky News.
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Starmer meets Chinese president
“The world is watching as the rule of law, media freedom and human rights in Hong Kong are eroded and undermined.
“We stand together in our defence of these fundamental freedoms and in our demand that Jimmy Lai be released immediately and unconditionally.”
Sir Keir raised the case of Mr Lai during remarks released at the start of his talks with Mr Xi on Monday – the first meeting between a British prime minister and the Chinese leader in six years.
The prime minister could be heard expressing concerns about reports of Mr Lai’s deteriorating health. However, he did not appear to call for his immediate release.
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From October: ‘This is what Hong Kong is’
Ms Kearns, the MP for Rutland and Stamford in the East Midlands, said the meeting had been an opportunity to be unequivocal that the UK expects Mr Lai to be freed.
“Jimmy Lai is being inhumanely persecuted for standing up for basic human values,” she said in a statement, released alongside the letter.
“He represents the flame of freedom millions seek around the world.
“We have a duty to fight for Jimmy Lai as a British citizen, and to take a stand against the Chinese Community Party’s erosion of rule of law in Hong Kong.
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“This letter represents the strength of international feeling and commitment of parliamentarians globally to securing Jimmy Lai’s immediate release and return to the UK with his family.”
Mr Lai was famously the proprietor of the Chinese-language newspaper Apple Daily in Hong Kong, which wrote scathing reports about the local authorities and the communist government in mainland China after Britain handed back the territory to Beijing in 1997.
The tabloid was a strong supporter of pro-democracy protesters who took to the streets of Hong Kong to demonstrate against the government in 2019.
But the media mogul was arrested the following year – one of the first victims of a draconian new security law imposed by the Chinese Communist Party.
His newspaper was closed after his bank accounts were frozen.
Mr Lai has since been convicted of illegal assembly and fraud. He is now on trial for sedition over articles published in Apple Daily.
World
Hong Kong jails 45 pro-democracy activists after accusing them of trying to overthrow the city’s government
Forty-five pro-democracy activists have been jailed in Hong Kong’s largest ever national security trial.
The activists sentenced with jail terms ranging from four years to ten years were accused of conspiracy to commit subversion after holding an unofficial primary election in Hong Kong in 2020.
They were arrested in 2021.
Hong Kong authorities say the defendants were trying to overthrow the territory’s government.
Democracy activist Benny Tai received the longest sentence of ten years. He became the face of the movement when thousands of protesters took to the city’s streets during the “Umbrella Movement” demonstrations.
However, Hong Kong officials accused him of being behind the plan to organise elections to select candidates.
Tai had pleaded guilty, his lawyers argued he believed his election plan was allowed under the city’s Basic Law.
Another prominent activist Joshua Wong received a sentence of more than four years.
Joshua Wong was sentenced to more than four years Pic: AP
Wong became one of the leading figures in the protests. His activism started as a 15 year old when he spearheaded a huge rally against a government plan to change the school curriculum.
Then in 2019 Hong Kong erupted in protests after the city’s government proposed a bill that would allow extradition to mainland China. It peaked in June 2019 when Amnesty International reported that up to two million people marched on the streets, paralysing parts of Hong Kong’s business district.
The extradition bill was later dropped but it had ignited a movement demanding political change and freedom to elect their own leaders in Hong Kong.
China’s central government called the protests “riots” that could not continue.
Hong Kong introduced a national security law in the aftermath of the protests.
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A woman is taken away by police outside the court Pic: Reuters
The US has called the trial “politically motivated”.
Dozens of family and friends of the accused were waiting for the verdict outside the West Kowloon Magistrates Court.
British citizen and media mogul Jimmy Lai is due to testify on Wednesday.
Meeting on the sidelines of the G20 in Brazil, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told China’s President Xi Jinping he’s concerned about the health of Lai.
He faces charges of fraud and the 2019 protests. He has also been charged with sedition and collusion with foreign forces.
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