After Russia invaded Ukraine, Soviet monuments in Estonia were no longer just a local issue, Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said on Tuesday. “No one wants to see our belligerent and hostile neighbor stirring up tensions in our home,” Callas said. The Baltic state was a Soviet republic from 1944 to 1991, and nearly a quarter of its 1.3 million people are Russian. “We will not give Russia the opportunity to use the past to disturb the peace in Estonia,” Kallas said. The government announced its intention to remove all Soviet-era monuments earlier this month, saying Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine “opened wounds in our society that remind us of these communist-era monuments.” Start your day with the top stories from the US, plus the day’s must-reads from across the Guardian Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. The announcement was met with hostility among some in Narva, on Estonia’s border with Russia, where only 4% of residents are Estonian and more than 80% are Russian, urging the government to act quickly to deal with “rising tensions and confusion”. Callas said. Work to remove the T-34 tank and two other Soviet monuments in the city began under police guard shortly after dawn on Tuesday and was completed by mid-morning. The tank will be displayed at Estonia’s national war museum near the capital Tallinn. Estonia’s interior minister, Lauri Läänemets, said public order issues were paramount. “Many locals are interested in removing the monuments,” he said, but the war must be commemorated “without confrontation and threats of provocation.” Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu said Moscow was “trying to create internal divisions in our society”. The monuments were originally erected “to glorify the restoration of Estonia. They have no place in our public space,” he said. The removal of Soviet monuments has caused unrest in Estonia in the past: the relocation of a statue known as the Bronze Soldier in Tallinn in April 2007 led to two nights of rioting and looting, during which a Russian protester was killed. Moscow criticized Estonia’s plans. “The elimination of monuments to those who saved Europe from fascism is, of course, outrageous,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier this month. “No nation believes, including Estonia.” In neighboring Latvia, MPs passed a law in June requiring all “monuments glorifying the Soviet regime” not in cemeteries to be dismantled by November 15, with works of artistic interest moved to the Museum of Occupation in Riga.
