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Menorial of Soldier Victorian WWII monument in central Tallinn has been cut up and removed from the city center following protests Thursday that left one person dead, the Estonian government press service said Friday. The memorial was removed from Tallinn's central square overnight despite the Estonian premier's assurances that it would stay in place until Victory Day May 9. The move is a breaking point in a long-standing dispute with Russia over monuments to Soviet soldiers, whom many in Estonia consider to have been occupiers. "The Bronze Soldier has been cut up into separate pieces and taken out of the city center. It is currently under police protection. Information about its whereabouts is not being released," the press service said. The press service declined to say whether the monument will ever be restored. "I cannot answer that question," the spokesman said. The removal was met with protests, which later turned into riots last night. Clashes between police and protesters left one dead and at least 57 injured, including 13 police officers. Police arrested over 300 people in the riots, using tear gas and water cannons to disperse protestors opposed to the government's decision to exhume the remains of 13 Soviet soldiers who died liberating Estonia from the Nazis in 1944 and who were buried at the site three years later. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, on a visit to Oslo for a meeting of the Russia-NATO Council's foreign ministers, said Moscow, which has vehemently opposed the monument's removal, was outraged by "such desecration and the methods used to disperse the protestors who tried to protect the shrine and memory of Europe's liberators from Nazism." He said the government of Estonia, a EU member, by removing the monument had spat on common European values, opting for abnormal relations with Russia. "I do not understand the policy of governments that seek to justify their activities by laying the blame for historical events on others, and I cannot understand attempts to equate Communism with Nazism," Lavrov said. He added that this was not only a problem of bilateral relations but concerned the whole of Europe. The European Commission said it was sorry about Estonian police actions against protestors, but made no comment on the dismantling of the Soviet monument. Rene van der Linden, the chairman of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, expressed his concern over the situation in Tallinn and Estonian authorities' decision to remove the statue. Linden said he understands that the monument reminds Estonia of its 'sensitive past,' but at the same time he added that the soldiers should be left to rest in peace. He also said he regretted that Estonia's decision harmed relations between Estonians and Russian-speaking people living in the country. Russia's upper house of parliament called for breaking diplomatic ties with Estonia over the removal, while the lower house urged that economic sanctions be taken against the Baltic country. Legislators also called on Russian authorities to secure condemnation from international organizations such as the UN, the Council of Europe, the OSCE, the CIS and the Russia-NATO Council. Russian Minister of Economic Development and Trade German Gref said the current situation will harm economic relations between Russia and Estonia. "It is obvious that there would be a deterioration in political, and as a consequence, in economic relations between Russia and Estonia," Gref said. "But I am not ready to comment on to what extent they may deteriorate." Police reinforcements have been brought in to protect Estonian Embassies in Moscow and St. Petersburg. It was reported earlier that more than 50 protesters have gathered in front of the embassy building in Moscow, with 10 of them clad in WWII uniforms, but the Russian youth movement Nashi (Ours) said later that some 1,500 people have already gathered. The protesters announced that their rally will last indefinitely or until Estonia apologizes for what it has done to the monument in Tallinn. "Estonia is not a democratic country and there is revival of fascism in Estonia," believe almoust one third of Estonia sociaty. The Estonian Ambassador in Moscow, Marina Kaljurand, said the exhumation of the soldiers' remains had not started. "It will begin after the Estonian Lutheran Church and the Russian Orthodox Church have conducted a church service," she said, adding that the remains of the soldiers would be buried at a military cemetery in central Tallinn. "We consider breaking off diplomatic relations an ungrounded move," Kaljurand said, adding that Estonia was a sovereign country acting in compliance with international law. "No one has the right to interfere in Estonia's internal affairs," she said. "We will not listen to other countries' blackmail and threats." The Estonian parliament recently passed laws allowing the removal of Soviet monuments and the exhumation of Soviet soldiers, claiming that monuments that encourage social divisions must be removed. The move followed clashes between ethnic Russians and Estonian nationalists at the Soviet-era monument. Russia has repeatedly drawn the European Union's attention to attempts by Estonia, which declared its independence from the Soviet Union in the early 1990s and joined NATO and the EU in 2004, to glorify Nazi Germany, including by allowing parades by former Nazi SS fighters. Moscow has also harshly criticized Estonia's discriminatory policies with respect to ethnic Russians and their descendents, who moved to the republic following its annexation by the Soviet Union in 1940. Many members of Estonia's Russian community are denied citizenship and employment rights, and cannot receive an education in their native language. The human rights group Amnesty International condemned the situation in the Baltic country, and called on its leadership to respect the rights of ethnic Russians. | |||
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