Estonia begins removing Soviet-era monuments from public spaces

Estonia begins removing Soviet-era monuments from public spaces

Estonia on Tuesday removed a World War II memorial erected in honour of the Red Army in Narva, a city inhabited by a large Russian-speaking minority, and accused Moscow of using such monuments to stir up tensions.

“My government has decided to remove Soviet monuments from public spaces across Estonia,” Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said in a tweet on Tuesday. “As symbols of repressions and Soviet occupation, they have become a source of increasing social tensions – at these times, we must keep the risk to public order to a minimum.”

Local opposition to the removal of the monument, which depicted an old Red Army T-34 tank, had raised fears of a repeat of the riots that broke out in Tallinn in 2007 following the removal of another Soviet monument.

The World War II-era T-34 tank, which was part of the Narva memorial, will be transferred to the Estonian War Museum. In its place, the mass grave of war victims will receive a “neutral tombstone”.

Both Estonia and its Baltic neighbour Latvia have Russian-speaking minorities – 25% and 5.8% of the population respectively – that are sometimes at odds with national governments.

Some fear Moscow is seeking to exploit these differences of opinion to destabilise these countries, which are both members of the EU and NATO.


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