TALLINN, Oct 12 (AFP) - Around 300 NATO navy soldiers on seven mine-hunter vessels are expected in Estonia on Tuesday for a week of get-togethers in the Atlantic alliance's new member country, military officials said Monday.
"There is time between trainings and the navy force is here to rest and take care of the vessels," Georgi Kokoshinski, spokesman for the Estonian defence forces, told AFP.
There will be no trainings, but soldiers will have a football match with Estonian marines, he added.
The seven vessels will dock 10 minutes away from the medieval centre of the capital Tallinn and call upon local people to come and visit the ships during the weekend, Kokoshinski said.
The visit is the first by NATO's maritime command to Estonia after the country joined the alliance on March 29 along with the two other Baltic states of Latvia and Lithuania and four other ex-communist countries, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.
The Commander of the Allied Maritime Component Command Northwood, Rear Admiral Jacques Brandt, will visit the vessels while staying in Estonia.
He will also meet Estonian military officials.
The ships from Belgium, Britain, Germany, the Netherlands and Norway will arrive in Tallinn after visiting Stockholm and Saint Petersburg.
On Wednesday 20, they will head to Riga, capital of Latvia.
The Baltic state's cooperation with the Allied Maritime Component Command Northwood started in 1999 when the joint Baltic Naval Squadron BALTRON took part in PASSEX 1999 maneuvers.