TALLINN, Estonia: A statue of a Red Army Soldier,
which has been at the heart of deadly riots in Estonia, gazed somberly
over dozens of Russian war graves Monday in its new location at a
military cemetery in Tallinn.
Authorities re-erected the Bronze Soldier at the Defense Forces burial ground
— which also holds remains of British, Estonian and German troops
— three days after removing it from a downtown square, provoking
protests by ethnic Russians.
In the next step of its contentious plan, the government
plans to move the remains of Soviet soldiers believed to be buried
near the statue's original site. Archeologists excavating the grave
said they had found nine coffins by Monday, but had not yet opened
them.
In violence that lasted through the weekend, police
clashed with Russian-speaking Estonians angered by the decision to
move the memorial. One man was stabbed to death, more than 150 people
were hurt and 1,100 detained in the worst riots since Estonia quit
the Soviet Union in 1991.
Some ethnic Estonians consider the monument a bitter
reminder of the Soviet occupation, while ethnic Russians view its
removal as a slap at Soviet contributions and another example of
discrimination against Russians.
The dispute has strained already tense relations between Russia and Estonia,
and highlighted long-standing Russian complaints about the treatment
of Russian-speaking minorities in the ex-Soviet Baltic states. A
group of visiting Russian lawmakers called on the Estonian government
to resign, while the Baltic country was growing increasingly uneasy
about pro-Kremlin protests at its embassies in Moscow and Kiev.
"We are keeping those from the embassy (inside). It is our boycott so that they
can't move around Russia," Lev Venetsky, a "Young Russia" activist, told AP Television News in Moscow. "We think there is nothing for fascists to do in Russia."
Activists from pro-Kremlin youth groups have all but
blockaded the Estonian Embassy in Moscow, erecting tents on an adjacent
sidewalk, holding candle vigils, plastering cars in anti-Estonian
stickers and passing out "Wanted" posters with pictures of the Estonian ambassador.
Estonia's Foreign Ministry sent a letter of protest
to the Russian government, saying "the lives and safety of the Embassy staff and family members are directly endangered."
In Kiev, police used tear gas against some 50 Communist
Party protesters after someone threw a small can of paint against
the Estonian Embassy, the Interfax news agency reported. Police said
no one was injured.
While Russian speakers enjoyed advantages during the
Soviet era, many ethnic Russians living in former Soviet republics
now struggle in getting education, dealing with government offices
and trying to get jobs amid a resurgence in native languages and
inroads by English.
Russian officials called the statue's removal a "blasphemous" act
against the memory of Red Army soldiers who helped defeat Nazi Germany.
Estonia accused Russian media of spreading lies about the situation.
"The Estonian government of Prime Minister
Andrus Ansip, after these actions, it must resign. That is the fundamental
position of our delegation," said Leonid Slutsky, the leader of the Russian group of lawmakers visiting Tallinn.
In a separate news conference, Estonian legislator
Kristiina Ojuland said she had urged the Russian group to "understand the seriousness of the situation" at the Estonian Embassy in Moscow.
Estonia's government has said the war memorial's location
near a busy intersection was not a proper place for a war grave.
Ethnic Russians said the real reason was to pander to Estonian nationalists
who wanted the monument removed.
The moving of the memorial drew criticism from others.
The Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center called it an insult
to the victims of the Nazis.
While recognizing the crimes committed under Soviet
rule, "it must never be forgotten that it was the Red Army which effectively stopped
the mass murder conducted by the Nazis and their local collaborators
on Estonian soil," Efraim Zuroff, the center's chief Nazi hunter, said in a statement.
In Berlin, meanwhile, police said 17 bronze torches
were stolen from a Soviet war memorial that commemorates the German
capital's capture by the Soviet army in 1945. Park employees discovered
the theft Monday morning at the memorial in the Niederschoenhausen
neighborhood.
The monument is one of three Russian war memorials
in Berlin, along with monuments in the central Tiergarten park and
the Treptow neighborhood. Germany promised Russia to maintain the
memorials after the withdrawal of Russian troops from former East
Germany.
The Tallinn cemetery where the Bronze Soldier now
stands is about 3 kilometers (2 miles) outside the city center.
Established in 1887, it holds mostly Russian and Estonian
soldiers killed during the wars of the 20th century. It also contains
graves of Germans soldiers who died in World War I and 112 British
sailors killed during Estonia's war of independence in 1918-1920
A headstone in front of the 2-meter (6 1/2-foot) statue reads, "To the unknown Soldier," in Estonian and Russian.
iht.com
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