Russian Bronze Statue in Estonia

[Stan]

Jan 30, 2007, By TBT staff
http://www.baltictimes.com/news/articles/17224/

Russian foreign minister opposes sanctions against Estonia

TALLINN - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he is against imposing sanctions against Estonia in response to plans to relocate the Soviet Bronze Soldier monument.
"Our reaction must be robust and firm, and be aimed at mobilizing public opinion and the political position of European countries in the first place, in order to not permit this kind of blasphemous attitude toward the memory of those who fought against fascism," Interfax news agency quoted the Russian minister as saying.
"However, I would not resort to reacting with sanctions. We are not dependent on Estonia to any such degree as to fear sanctions. Simply we need to put our actions into correlation with the position of those constructive, sensible forces that exist in Estonia," Lavrov said.

This sounds somewhat strange for us here at ground zero, being they had just threatened sanctions and now a reversal ?

Regards, Stan

[Stan]

www.baltictimes.com
Feb 07, 2007 By TBT staff

MOSCOW - Sergei Ivanov, Russia’s deputy prime minister and minister of defense, on Wednesday repeated his criticism of the possibility that Estonia would relocate the Bronze Soldier monument.
“We called things by their right names. I, for instance, called it state vandalism,” Ivanov was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying after a meeting by the State Duma (Russia’s lower chamber of parliament).
Ivanov argued that political posturing ahead of certain internal political events, a vague reference to the upcoming national elections in March, lay behind Estonian authorities’ decision.

Putin: Return buried soldiers to Russia

Russian President Vladimir Putin has called for the remains of fallen Soviet fighters buried under Tallinn’s Bronze Soldier monument to be returned to Russian soil. “If it comes to the demolition of the monument and the reburial of our soldiers’ sacred remains, we are ready to propose to the present Estonian leadership to rebury them in the territory of the Russian Federation,” Putin told the Interfax news agency.

Putin’s comments are a tad premature. The Estonian government is still divided on the issue (The Center Party votes to keep the Bronze thing, while the opposition parties and Reformists (lead coalition partner) want it gone. Parliament passed laws permitting the relocation, but no decision to act on those laws has been made.

Hmmm, who cleans the bird droppings ?

Putin would later point out:

“In many states of Europe, the monuments to Soviet soldiers are not simply standing, they are even, I’m ashamed to say, looked after better than we do it in Russia,” Putin said.

[Stan]

Mari-Ann Kelam comments on the recent and current controversy surrounding the removal of the Soviet war monument in the Estonian capital, Tallinn:

Sunday, 18 February 2007

So often the media emphasis is on what Estonia is or is not doing with the Soviet victory symbol. The focus should be on Russia and its behaviour in this situation. With its vacillating the current Estonian coalition government (Reform, Center and People’s parties) has not handled the problem at all well. But when you really think about it, why should a huge country like Russia raise such a protest, threaten a small neighboring sovereign nation to retain one Soviet statue, a reminder of 50 years of occupation?

Absurd on the face of it, but this shows clearly how today’s Russia is still very much living in and glorifying its Soviet past. Putin’s Cold War style speech in Munich just confirms the situation.

[kaur]

Interview with Estonian president.

http://www.regnum.ru/english/785906.html

[Stan]

Thanks Kaur !
I like Ilves, he will make some significant changes in Estonia.
Regards,
Stan

[Stan]

Looks like he's staying in Estonia

Feb 21, 2007
By Joel Alas
http://www.baltictimes.com/news/articles/17358/

TALLINN - Toomas Hendrik Ilves was forced to make his first major decision as president when he last week vetoed a bill that would have forced the removal of the Bronze Soldier monument. The decision was considered inevitable – the bill that sought the statue’s removal was deemed unconstitutional. Its passage through parliament was read only as a populist play ahead of an increasingly divisive election.