MOSCOW
Russia summoned on Wednesday Estonia’s Charge d’Affaires Juri Vanamelder over vandalism at the Tallinn Military Cemetery.
The Foreign Ministry said in a statement that a strong protest was lodged over desecration of Soviet war memorials.
The Russian side expressed outrage that despite a previous meeting in March concerning the defilement of Soviet tombstones, Estonia has taken no corrective measures and instead allowed the situation to worsen.
Moscow rejected what it described as “hypocritical explanations” from Tallinn, criticizing the use of heavy machinery to dismantle memorial slabs under the pretext that no remains were buried beneath them.
The ministry condemned the acts as a “deliberate insult to the memory of Red Army soldiers” who fought Nazi forces, calling the actions especially egregious in the year marking the 80th anniversary of victory in World War II.
Russia vowed to continue exposing what it called “criminal efforts” to erase Soviet heritage, and pledged to raise the issue at international platforms including the UN and Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
