The revolver and ammunition presented by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to Michal are currently being kept safely in secure storage at the Estonian Embassy, Michal told Delfi.

Reuters reported that Erdoğan presented Michal with a Gumusay .357 Magnum revolver, a rare Turkish-made piece produced in the 1990s. The firearm was placed in a wooden display case featuring the Turkish flag, the NATO logo, and a plaque noting the Gumusay was the first revolver to be made in Turkey.

Officials are now determining if and how to bring the revolver, which bears the NATO summit insignia, to Estonia, as well as the requirements for its legal storage.

Police and Border Guard Board's (PPA) senior officer Marten Ingel stressed that without a firearms license, no individual, not even the prime minister, can simply accept a firearm as a gift from outside the country and take it into Estonia.

"There must be a legal basis for importing the firearm into the country, and the requirements set out in the Weapons Act must be met," Ingel said, noting there were two possible solutions to the revolver issue.

In the first of these, the recipient needs a firearms license in the first place, then must obtain a permit to acquire that firearm and then get an additional, special permit to import it. The alternative is to potentially classify it as a museum piece – as Michal himself hinted – but this hinges on the weapon's type, age etc. Even then, permits are still required, and the museum indicated, not the original recipient, would become the legal owner.

As for the longer term fate of the firearm, Michal said he "can't rule out that I'll need to get a firearms license for it or have it placed in a museum for safekeeping," adding he would turn to that once more urgent issues at home in Estonia had been dealt with.

Michal is not the only leader of a NATO member state to have been caught out by the kinetic keepsake – Britain's outgoing prime minister, Keir Starmer, whose gift came with a cleaning kit and 500 rounds according to Reuters, had to leave his behind while Belgium's prime minister, Bart De Wever, did not even realize the nature of the present until touching down in Brussels, where he handed it in to authorities.

Belgian PM Bart De Wever unknowingly brought home a loaded, personalized revolver gifted by Turkish President Erdogan at the NATO summit.

The gift wasn't opened until the delegation landed in Belgium, where they discovered the gun and ammunition.

The weapon was immediately… pic.twitter.com/8aDkGAus18

— Clash Report (@clashreport) July 9, 2026

While in Ankara, Michal referenced Estonia's continued status as one of the leading spenders on defense as a proportion of GDP of all NATO member states, stating that this now reaches 7 percent. He also inked a drone cooperation agreement with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, which may see Estonia purchasing Ukrainian drones.

Michal also told Delfi the Estonian defense industry association and defense companies including DefSecIntel, Nortal and CybExer had attended the Ankara summit.

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