The Estonian Minister of Defence Margus Hanson will on Monday start a three-day visit in Kosovo in order to meet with Estonia\'s largest peacekeeping contingent, consisting of 122 soldiers.
Estonia has in Kosovo, Pristina a 22-member military police platoon Estpatrol-10 serving in the ranks of the Multinational Specialized Unit and in Mitrovica a 99-soldier-scouts unit BALTSQN-10 as part of a Danish battalion. In addition to that there is one Estonian officer serving in the staff of the NATO-led international force KFOR.
During the first half of the visit Hanson will familiarize himself with the scouts company\'s everyday work and living conditions in Mitrovica. After that he will head for Pristina where an Estonian military police platoon is stationed.
During the visit Hanson will meet with the KFOR Commander, Lt. Gen. Yves de Kermabon, Chief of KFOR Multinational Brigade Northeast Brig. Gen. Etienne Lafontaine, the Chief of the Danish Battalion, Col. Tom Stoltenberg, and Chief of MSU Col. Claudio Cordella.
From Kosovo the Estonian Minister of Defence will head to Albania where he is scheduled to meet with the Defense and Foreign Ministers and other high rank civil servants.
The Estonian Defense Forces have been participating in the NATO-led peace operations in Kosovo since 1999.