Director of the Information and Press Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry Ivan Nechaev said that the Russian Foreign Ministry had sent a note of protest to the Estonian Foreign Ministry regarding the dismantling of the Soviet T-34 tank in Narva. The corresponding statement was published on the website of the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Nechaev noted that not only this monument, but also six other monuments – memorial plates on the central Petrovsky Square, a monument to the Hero of the Soviet Union Igor Grafov, an obelisk to the Red Army soldiers, a memorial to the landing in Meriküla, two monuments in Narva-Jõesuu – were dismantled despite the mass protests of local residents. According to the diplomat, about 15 objects of the Soviet memorial heritage have recently been dismantled in Estonia.
Nechaev called the demolition of the monument in Narva a “shameful action” carried out under the sign of a “police operation” with special forces, during which access roads were blocked and the work of the Narva-Ivangorod border checkpoint was stopped. And Prime Minister Kaya Kallas said that the purpose of dismantling the T-34 was “to ensure internal security.”
“The Estonian leaders’ fear of a protest explosion by local residents seems to be quite justified. The situation in Narva is tense to the limit, the opposition of the City Assembly has already announced its intention to sue for the anti-democratic actions of the Estonian state, ”the representative of the Foreign Ministry emphasized.
Nechaev was indignant that the legendary T-34 would now be used by Tallinn “in the spirit of the concept of” Soviet occupation “, but this action will not deprive the Estonians of their legal right to keep the historical memory of the role of the Soviet army in the liberation of Europe from fascism.
The monument was dismantled on August 16 and placed in the hangar of the military museum in Viimsi. Residents brought candles and flowers to the place where the monument stood.
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