Estonian government dismantling Soviet military monument near border as threat to public order
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Estonia’s government started removing a Soviet World War II monument this month from near a city on the Russian border as part of a wider effort, prompted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, to dismantle remaining Soviet-era symbols.
Crews removed a replica of a T-34 tank that sat atop the monument outside the city of Narva in Estonia’s Russian-speaking east and placed it on a truck that took it to the Estonian War Museum in Viimsi, a town north of the capital, Tallinn.
The monument commemorates the Soviet soldiers who died fighting Nazi Germany during World War II. Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said a neutral grave marker would replace the tank replica and the memorial outside Narva would “remain a dignified site for commemorating the dead.”
Estonia, a former Soviet republic that shares a nearly 300-kilometer, or 180-mile, border with Russia, has taken a hardline stance against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/estonian-government-dismantling-soviet-military-monument-near-border-as-threat-to-public-order-01661666893