Fact Check: NATO troops in Estonia for 2025 Independence Day, not military escalation
A video of NATO troops and armoured vehicles in Estonia in February is not evidence of a recent military escalation with Russia, as has been suggested online.
"NATO arrived to Estonia. British soldiers and tanks in Tallinn. #tank #estronia #nato #russia #ww3 #itshappening #wtf #war,' said a March 30 post on Threads., opens new tab
An official from NATO's press office said in an email to Reuters there was not a military escalation with Russia, as suggested by the post's hashtags, and that the footage showed the British Army's Royal Dragoon Guards in Tallinn on February 24, 2025, to mark Estonia's Independence Day, opens new tab.
The Royal Dragoon Guards were in the city as part of NATO's multinational battlegroup in Estonia, which is led by UK troops and is tasked with protecting the alliance's eastern flank, opens new tab. NATO says, opens new tab the battlegroup was first deployed in 2017.
The bell tower in the background of the video is consistent with Google Maps images, opens new tab of St. Nicholas Church in central Tallinn.
A spokesperson for the British Embassy in Tallinn also said the video showed scenes from Estonia's Independence Day on February 24, 2025.
Reuters identified the three British military vehicles in the video. The vehicles - which had the numberplates 62KK13, opens new tab, DT16AA, opens new tab, and 87KJ63, opens new tab - were pictured in Estonia between May and December 2024, evidence that none of them had just arrived in the country in February 2025, as implied by the social media post.
The video was published to the YouTube account @inside2279, opens new tab with a caption that included the words: "NATO army arrived to Estonia. Independence Day" on March 24, 2025, opens new tab.
A spokesperson for the account, in an email to Reuters, said they had filmed and published the footage, which they said showed Tallinn on February 24, 2025, on Estonia's Independence Day.
VERDICT
Miscaptioned. The video shows NATO troops in Tallinn on February 24, 2025, for Estonia's Independence Day, according to NATO and British officials. Photos posted online in 2024 suggest the three armoured vehicles in the video were in Estonia long before February.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work.
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