Estonia will remove all public Soviet monuments from the predominantly Russian-speaking city of Narva, Tallinn’s government said on Tuesday amid rising tensions in the city, accusing Russia of trying to use the past to divide society in the Baltic country.
Estonian authorities announced on Tuesday that they had removed a Soviet T-34 tank and were preparing to do the same to other Soviet monuments installed in the city of Narva, a predominantly Russian-speaking city near the border with Russia, EFE news agency reported. , quoted by Agerpres.
The tank removed from the pedestal will be transferred to the museum. The “Three Bayonets” monument, which pays tribute to the Red Army and “liberators from fascism”, is to be demolished, as well as five other monuments in the Narva area.
The tank monument did not attract the crowds that gather on Victory Day over Nazi Germany at the Victory Monument in the Latvian capital Riga, but there were small gatherings of mostly Russian-speaking people around it.
One of the most significant Soviet monuments for Russia was dismantled in Estonia
It is a T-34 tank in the city of Narva, where Russians make up 87% of the population. pic.twitter.com/QXnlmkGpRy
— David Kyme (@CyberRealms1) August 16, 2022
Estonian Prime Minister Kaia Kallas announced on Twitter on Tuesday that the removal of the Narva tank was the start of a campaign to demolish all Soviet monuments in Estonia, saying these “symbols of Soviet repression and occupation have become a source of social tension.”
For his part, Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu told the press that in the context of the war in Ukraine, his country cannot afford “internal differences” and that monuments that “glorify” the Russian occupation have no place in public places in Estonia.
How many Russians are there in Estonia?
Russians make up almost a quarter of the population of about 1.3 million in this Baltic country, a former Soviet republic.
And neighboring Latvia this summer decided to demolish the Victory Monument in the capital Riga, where citizens of the Russian minority gathered every year on May 9 to celebrate the Red Army’s victory over the Nazis.
The Latvian government has also announced the demolition of 69 monuments that it believes glorify the Soviet occupation.
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Source: Hot News RU
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