ESTONIA REQUESTS ASSISTANCE IN PROVIDING AIR

C O N F I D E N T I A L TALLINN 000840 SIPDIS NOFORN SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/13/2016 TAGS: ASEC TIA MOPS NATO PREL EN SUBJECT: ESTONIA REQUESTS ASSISTANCE IN PROVIDING AIR DEFENSE FOR POTUS VISIT Classified By: DCM Jeffrey Goldstein. Reason: 1.4 (a & d) ¶1. (C) On September 14 2006 Embassy Tallinn received the following diplomatic note from the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Begin text: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Estonia presents their compliments to the Embassy of the United States of America and have the honor to convey the following: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs would like to draw the Embassy's attention to an important issue concerning the upcoming visit of the President of the United States of America to Estonia on November 27-28, 2006. The Government of Estonia has already devoted a great deal of effort to the technical and administrative arrangements related to this event as well as to ensuring the security of the visit and its participants. The Ministry note that Estonia's Air Force is relatively small and is thus unable to provide all of the air defense capabilities, including protection against renegade aircraft, which are normally required from a host country with regard to visits by a President of the United States. Taking into account the previous positive experience of cooperation between our countries, the Government of Estonia would like to request the authorities of the United States to enter into a temporary bilateral arrangement regarding the deployment of the United States Armed Forces in Estonia in order to provide security against possible airborne threats. If the aforementioned proposal is acceptable to the Government of the United Sates, the Ministry would propose to enter into bilateral negotiations on the details of the deployment and the respective arrangements. In the Ministry's view, such an agreement could be concluded via an exchange of diplomatic notes. The Ministry expresses their confidence that the excellent cooperation between our countries will ensure that the necessary security provisions will meet the highest possible standards. Complimentary closing. End text. ¶2. (C) The MFA has told us that while the GOE is ready to move ahead to prepare a bilateral agreement, it will not be able to finalize and sign one until parliament has passed legislation on renegade aircraft. MFA understands that this legislation should be passed in mid-October. End text. GOLDSTEIN