An M2A4 Bradley Fighting Vehicle from the U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry Division heads for the next location during an exercise near Camp Reedo, Estonia, May 16, 2025. The Baltic country’s defense ministry said Oct. 30, 2025, that U.S. forces are committed to maintaining a presence in Estonia. (Austin Steinborn/U.S. Army)
U.S. forces are committed to maintaining a presence in Estonia, the country’s defense ministry said Thursday, alleviating fears of a withdrawal from the Baltic nation as the Pentagon scales back troop levels elsewhere in Europe.
The decision to keep the American military footprint there as is reaffirms U.S. commitment to defending NATO’s eastern flank, Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur said in a statement Thursday.
“The permanent presence of U.S. forces in Estonia and across NATO’s eastern flank is an essential part of deterring Russia and strengthening NATO’s defense posture,” Pevkur said.
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the announcement, which comes as the U.S. prepares to draw down the number of troops in Romania, another NATO ally seen as a key bulwark against Russia.
U.S. forces operate a battalion and tank unit in Estonia, the defense minister said, adding that the nation provides the U.S. with “first-class conditions” for training exercises with allies and has met President Donald Trump’s demand that NATO nations allocate 5% of their gross domestic product on defense.
Estonia, which borders Russia, has been on high alert in recent weeks amid reports of various Russian incursions, including a swarm of drones that entered Polish airspace in September and the downing of a drone earlier this month near Camp Reedo, a military base in the southern Estonia that is used by U.S. forces.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth meets with Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur before a NATO defense chiefs meeting in Brussels on Oct. 15, 2025. Pevkur said U.S. forces are committed to maintaining a presence in the Baltic nation, alleviating fears as the Pentagon scales back troops elsewhere in Europe. (Alexander Kubitza/U.S. Navy)
Meanwhile, the Romanian announcement earlier this week that the U.S. Army would no longer rotate a brigade to the country has been met with pushback from officials and lawmakers in Washington.
The U.S. increased its troop levels in Romania following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, several NATO countries, including Romania, have recently been subjected to airspace incursions by Russian drones or fighter jets.
The Republican chairs of the House and Senate armed services committees condemned the drawdown and said they would seek reassurance from the Pentagon that the U.S. plans to keep a persistent rotational presence in Poland, the Baltic states and Romania.
“Pulling back U.S. forces from NATO’s Eastern flank prematurely, and just weeks after Russian drones violated Romanian airspace, undermines deterrence and risks inviting further Russian aggression,” Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi and Rep. Mike Rogers of Alabama said in a joint statement Wednesday.
U.S. Army Europe and Africa said in a statement that the move was not a withdrawal but rather a “positive sign of increased European capability and responsibility.”
