Moscow has launched a criminal investigation into Estonia’s Kaja Kallas over the destruction of Soviet WWII memorials
Russian authorities have issued arrest warrants for Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas and Secretary of State Taimar Peterkop, over their roles in the demolition of Soviet WWII memorials in the Baltic state. Kallas announced in 2022 that the Estonian government had decided to remove all Soviet symbols from public areas “as soon as possible.”
Estonia as well as neighboring Latvia and Lithuania have increasingly targeted Soviet-era war monuments in recent years, describing them as symbols of occupation. The campaign has intensified since the start of Russia’s offensive against Ukraine in February 2022.
On Tuesday, TASS quoted unnamed Russian security officials as confirming that a “criminal case has been launched against Estonia’s Prime Minister Kaja Kallas and Secretary of State Taimar Peterkop over the destruction and damaging of memorials to Soviet warriors.”
Kallas claimed in August 2022 that hundreds of remaining Soviet monuments in Estonia served as a reminder of historical “wounds,” especially in the context of Russia’s actions in Ukraine, and therefore had to be removed.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov accused the Estonian government of waging “war with a common history.”
(non-archived version link: https://www.rt.com/russia/592373-russia-issues-arrest-warrant-estonian-pm/ )
Seems like a bit of an overreaction on russias part. I can understand seeing it as extremely disrespectful but these monuments were on estonian soil, so where’s the legal issue?
Not that I care much for international bourgeois law, and I wouldn’t expect this to get far, but I could see an argument being made that the destroyed monuments were/are Russian property and akin to grave sites, and Estonian officials could be in trouble over destruction/erasure of past atrocities, rewriting history, disturbing monuments that honor the heroics of dead soldiers, yada yada yada. I’m not expecting it to get far though.
There isn’t. It’s just the usual posturing. Baltics (which Estonia is, you’re not “nordics”, estis, cope) do something like this near damn every year since joining nato (and probably before tbf). Russian government always acts outraged and issues some proclamations. But nothing actually happens. Estonian government members keep profiting of off business with Russia, Russian authorities keep approving movies and memorials that shit on USSR and Russia.
When you have 3 nazi chihuahuas barking at your door 24/7 on how they’re gonna do ‘‘x’’ thing to your people living there, not to mention open destroying of monuments of liberators of the continent from nazism and non-stop supporting the current nazi country you’re at war with even after USA stopped, what reaction are you expecting?
I would expect a repatriation program for ethnic Russians from those countries. Frankly not just baltics - other post soviet republics as well.
But that would require a actual effort.