TALLINN. Soviet monuments at the Russian-speaking majority Estonian city of Narva. destabilizes the country’s government, Prime Minister Kaya Calas said in a statement yesterday, citing escalating tensions in the city and blaming Russia for attempting to instrumentalize historical memory in order to divide Estonian society.

Estonia is currently a member EUROPE. and his NATO, and Tallinn became one of Ukraine’s staunchest allies after the Russian invasion on 24 February. 25% of the country’s 1.3 million people are Russians, and the government fears that the Russian minority will fall under the influence of Moscow.

Yesterday morning, the city authorities of Narva removed the Soviet T-34 battle tank, which was the centerpiece of the memorial to those who fell in the Great Patriotic War, as the Stalinist regime called the World War. During the night, the chariot was removed from the pedestal by an army crane.

The Inda-Viru prefecture in the northeast of the country, bordering Russia and including the city of Narva, is three-quarters Russian-speaking. In 2007, riots broke out in Tallinn between Russian-speaking youth and the police after another World War II monument was demolished in the center of the capital. Then Moscow described this decision as an insult to the dead Red Army soldiers who liberated the country from the Nazi yoke.