Russian Bronze Statue in Estonia

[Stan]

Russian youth movement activist arrested in Lithuania for illegal border crossing.

A Russian citizen, Konstantin Goloskokov, was arrested while illegally crossing the border. The trespasser was detained for a two-month term. He is facing a fine or imprisonment for up to two years. Goloskokov was planning to get into Estonia through Lithuania, where he intended to stage an action in Tonismagi Square, where the Bronze Soldier Monument was dismantled last spring. The trespasser informed authorities that he is a Nashi activist; he was going to Estonia via Lithuania, because earlier he had been denied an Estonian visa.

The State Border Control Service stated that overall the number of trespassers has been declining within last three years. In 2007, 484 trespassers were detained, which is by 23% less than in 2006.

[Stan]

Dozens of Nashi Protesters Detained

Police detained dozens of Nashi activists at an unauthorized rally outside the European Commission's offices in Moscow on Wednesday, in a rare instance of the pro-Kremlin youth group running afoul of the law.

Some 700 activists gathered at the delegation's office at 14/1 Kadashevskaya Naberezhnaya in central Moscow to protest the imprisonment of a fellow activist in Lithuania, which is an EU member.

The rally was not sanctioned, and police dispersed it, rounding up 50 activists and new Nashi leader Nikita Borovikov, Nashi spokeswoman Kristina Potupchik said, Interfax reported.

Police said the detainees were taken in for questioning on possible charges of illegally gathering for a protest.

The rally was meant to protest the jailing of Konstantin Goloskokov, who was sentenced to two months in prison on charges of illegally crossing the border earlier this month. Goloskokov was traveling to Estonia to participate in a Nashi picket at the former site of a Soviet memorial.

[Stan]

TALLINN -- Press reports in Estonia say that five young Russian Estonians have been charged with money-laundering in a case that may involve connections to the international terrorist organization, Al-Qaida.

The Eesti Ekspress newspaper says that Estonian police have been investigating the men ever since British police contacted them in the wake of the July 2005 London bombings in which 56 people were killed.

One of the suspected ringleaders of the bombing was found to have had an Estonian telephone number on his mobile phone, and to have made at least two money transfers to Estonia. The paper says that the amounts transferred to Tallinn were significant.

Police targeted IT expert Ilya Kotkov and uncovered a sophisticated money-laundering operation. A search of his apartment reportedly discovered around half a million kroons (40,000 euros) in cash.

Kotkov was sentenced to five years in prison of which he will serve eight months.

[Stan]

"TALLINN, January 11 (RIA Novosti) - Three activists charged with public order offenses following last spring's riots in Tallinn over the removal of a Soviet-era statue will go on trial January 14, a local court said Friday."

The removal of the graves of Soviet soldiers and the Bronze Soldier monument from central Tallinn provoked mass protests in the capital and some other Estonian cities in late April, when over 1,000 people were arrested, dozens injured and a Russian national killed.

Estonian prosecutors said Dmitry Linter, Maxim Reva and Dmitry Klensky, aided by a member of Russia's Kremlin-backed youth group Nashi, organized riots that led to looting, arson and clashes with police. If found guilty the defendants could face up to five years in prison.

The activists set up a group last spring called Night Watch, whose members guarded the monument commemorating those who died liberating the Baltic state from the Nazis in 1944, in an attempt to prevent its removal.

The move by Estonia aggravated relations with Russia, which has long criticized its discriminative policies toward Russian speakers and leniency toward Estonian SS veterans. Rallies were also held in Moscow, where Nashi activists picketed the Estonian embassy, leading to its brief closure and diplomatic protests.

The trial of the three men will resume on January 15 and will then be held again on January 28-31, the Estonian court said.

[Stan]

An excellent recap from the Wall Street Journal.

One key steppingstone in that process was the U.S.-Baltic Charter signed 10 years ago today.

We tell this story because it contains an important lesson. The West again faces major questions about how to reach out to young democracies striving to join our institutions -- in the Balkans, Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia. The challenge is to tie these countries to the West and its values at a time when enlargement fatigue is setting in and Moscow's opposition is growing.

The Charter helped unleash creative energy in these former Soviet republics. Seeing the Americans engaged on the ground made it also easier for many Europeans to beef up their presence and assistance. Another result of the Charter was that the Balts' historical distrust toward global security organizations, such as the U.N. or OSCE, started to melt.

... Washington's message was: You need to run this marathon, but we will coach and support you along the way. Above all, we will make sure that no one will be allowed to trip you up or prevent you from crossing the finish line.

In plain English (or Latvian), this meant that performance mattered and that neither Moscow nor Western skeptics could veto the process.

More at the link

[Stan]

The much-anticipated trial against four alleged organizers of the Tallinn riots began this week amid a tranquil atmosphere at home and the requisite show of propaganda on the part of Russia. The four men are accused of fomenting the rioting that rocked the Estonia’s capital last April...

The defendants have denied their guilt, and even made counterclaims against the Estonian state, alleging police abuse and constitutional violations such as denying the right to legal counsel. Regardless, prosecutors are confident that they have compiled a strong case against the four - all ethnic Russians - who face up to five years in prison.

Put mildly, it would appear that the goose has been cooked for the four defendants. Some of them, if not all, were followed by security police for months before the rioting took place. Their phones were also tapped. Indeed, it is the latter that will likely serve as the prosecutors’ smoking gun. One can easily imagine that any of the four, in the heat of the moment on April 26 - 27, began phoning contacts and “rallying the troops.” The language used was, in all likelihood, very harsh (and could eventually become a fine primer to the rich obscenities in the Russian language).

The court case will also be interesting in that it could shed light on Russia’s role in the mayhem. Moscow has denied any role in the riots, and the subsequent cyber-attacks...

But there is a pleasing footnote to the latter ordeal. Nashi activists have in recent days discovered that their road to Europe has been blocked. Due to their aggressive behavior against Estonia, the Baltic state has declared them personae non grata for travel to the European Union.

Now the poor activists - who aren’t really activists but protesters-for-hire -are moaning that they can’t get to Helsinki or Madrid because they’ve been blacklisted. For us, this has provided a wonderful sense of schadenfreude.

[Stan]

TALLINN, January 21 (RIA Novosti) - An Estonian court on Monday handed down suspended sentences to four people found guilty of public order offenses during last spring's riots in Tallinn...

Tallinn court gave Andres Maripuu, 20, an 18-month suspended sentence for looting clothes worth over $2,000 from luxury shops...

Alexander Timokhin, 19, received a one-year suspended sentence for breaking a shop window.

Svetlana Karanina, 59, found guilty of attacking a police officer, was given a nine-month suspended sentence.

Earlier in the day the court gave a one-year suspended sentence to Andrei Rybakov for throwing stones at policemen and vandalizing plants outside the National Library.

[Stan]

Now, tiny Estonia has quietly struck back. It has caused a bit of an uproar here by putting the Nashi protesters on an immigration blacklist, preventing them from traveling not only to Estonia but also, because of its recent entry into the European Union border-free zone, to most of Europe as well.

MOSCOW — Like many Russians, Mariana B. Skvortsova planned to spend her winter vacation traveling abroad. Yet, as she tried to cross from Russia into Finland this month, border guards refused her entry.

Ms. Skvortsova, a leader in the Kremlin-backed youth group, Nashi, was among hundreds of young people who unleashed furious protests after the former Soviet republic of Estonia moved a monument to World War II-era Soviet soldiers from the center of Tallinn, its capital, to the city’s outskirts last April.

[Stan]

Estonian President's speech on the Anniversary of the Tartu Peace Treaty

...After accession to the organisations of existential importance to Estonia, our goals are no longer easily defined. All too often it is no longer possible to say a goal has been achieved, to stamp a task “Done”.

Nowadays, our task is to have an impact and influence in those two organisations regarding issues with the greatest and most immediate bearing on our interests. Our goals include Estonia’s own initiatives in areas whose relevance others perhaps have not yet quite realised. Estonia’s initiative on cyber security in NATO serves as a good example.

Considering these goals, Estonia must have a clear understanding of her own capabilities and opportunities. I argue that we are capable of much more. We must abandon the attitude that we are too small to make a difference.


Being part of NATO also requires and assumes our intellectual contribution.

NATO is the mode and the channel the United States uses for its relations with Europe. As most of us clearly understand, it is in Estonia’s interests for the US to be present and to continue to participate in Europe’s security system.

NATO membership also means participation in the NATO missions. This elementary notion is not necessarily always popular. If we allow NATO to develop into an à la carte alliance, where everyone choses whether or not to participate in a mission – we may face a time when we, too, might not happen to be everyone’s choice on the menu. This we cannot allow.

I have not addressed relations with our eastern neighbour. Considering Russia’s on-going election campaign, it is hard to know what to say. When leading Russian sociologists believe election success requires the creation of an „external enemy”, and if at the moment that enemy happens to be Estonia, I conclude this is not the best time for dialogue.

For the same reason, we should take whatever is said or thought of us east of our border with greater composure.

[Stan]

Joint Baltic American National Committee Inc. sent questionnaires to the leading Democratic and Republican presidential candidates, asking each for their positions on key issues and concerns of the Baltic-American community.

1. What policy would you follow in U.S. relations with Russia given Russia’s increasing Soviet-style isolationism, anti-Western propaganda, and anti-democratic actions such as restrictions on a free media and return to a “one-party system”? How will you act to stem Russia's intimidation of neighboring countries, such as the Baltics, through boycotts, oil supply manipulation, cyber attacks, disinformation, and other means?

The list of issues that divides the United States and Russia is growing longer. In the heart of Europe, where we have worked hard since the end of the Cold War to bury old rivalries and hostilities...

Many of us had hoped that Baltic-Russian relations would improve after Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia joined NATO and the EU. Instead, Russia has stirred nationalist feelings against Estonia, used oil and natural gas as a political weapon in the Baltic Sea region...

President Putin seems intent on setting Russia on a path of zero-sum competition with the United States...

Unfortunately, President Bush has failed to grasp what is happening. He began the process of tearing up treaties without finding other ways to preserve mutual confidence...

We can do better than this.
As President, I will be ready to work with Russia where our interests intersect – fighting terrorism and nuclear proliferation are just two examples

2. Given the increasingly bold use of energy supply manipulation by Russia as a coercive measure to divide Europe and weaken NATO, what do you think U.S. policy should be to address this problem?

Energy security is a big issue...and I am concerned that Russia is likely to remain a major source of energy for the Baltic states and most of Europe in coming years.

But what we can and must do is manage that dependency better. Part of the answer to this energy security problem is increased diversification of suppliers

In the 1990s the Clinton Administration made the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline a priority, and thankfully, we helped make it a reality. I am deeply disappointed that President Bush has failed to make possible successor projects a priority. As President, I will.

Above all, we need a more unified position within Europe and between Europe and the United States to level the playing field with Russia.

3. Do you support NATO enlargement?

Growing up in the Chicago suburbs, I was fortunate to learn first-hand about the occupation and illegal annexation of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia...The United States never recognized that annexation, and I am deeply proud of that.

I am also proud of the leadership role that the Clinton Administration played in opening NATO’s door in the 1990s.

4. Do you support expanding trade with and increasing investment in the Baltics? If so, what measures would you propose?

For many years the Baltic states have been at the cutting edge of reform, and they have rapidly expanded trade with the West.

You have turned the Baltic states into high-tech tigers who set the standard for the Internet age.

5. How would you improve U.S. public diplomacy in the Baltic countries? Would you favor more exchanges and people-to-people contacts? If so, how would you deal with the problems of obtaining visas and the implementation of visa-free travel from the Baltic countries to the United States?

I know from my own travel to the region how talented and gifted these societies are. I commit to working with you to create the conditions where visa-free travel becomes a reality as quickly as possible. I know that both sides could benefit from this kind of future.

I fondly remember the many talented young Baltic NGO leaders I had the privilege to meet during my visit to Estonia in 1996 and at a Vital Voices conference in Iceland in 1999.

When I am President, the United States will continue to send the same message to the people of the Baltic countries that I sent when I spoke in Estonia in 1996:

“We rejoice in the freedom you have restored here, we admire your courage and tenacity, and we will continue to stand with you as you regain your rightful place in the family of Western democratic nations.”

More detailed responses at the link...

[Stan]

TALLINN, Estonia (AFP)--Estonia has launched an unprecedented two week public amnesty on turning in Soviet-era explosives which people may still be hoarding, an Estonian public security official said Tuesday.

"Anyone who informs us during the two week campaign about having explosives and will hand them over to Rescue Board specialists, will not be punished for a crime, which otherwise might be punished with a fine or even imprisonment.

"We know that many people have explosives (sic) at home which were left in Estonia by the Soviet army, and many people have also collected various explosives (sic) from our oil-shale mines," Porss said.

The explosives amnesty is unprecedented in Estonia.

Soviet-made explosives (sic) left behind in Estonia when the Red Army troops left the country in August 1994 have killed and maimed people handling them.

The amnesty will last until Feb. 17 and has been accompanied by a wide public awareness campaign in newspapers and on television and radio channels.

[Stan]

The pro-Kremlin youth group Nashi decided to strike back at Estonia after several of its members were blacklisted and subsequently barred entry to the EU. 50 Nashi activists demonstrated outside Russia's MFA with a list of Estonian figures Nashi wants blacklisted.

MOSCOW. Feb 4 (Interfax) - The youth organization Nashi has compiled a list of people, including Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves and Prime Minister Andrus Ansip, who they believe should be banned from entering Russia, Nashi representative Kristina Potupchik said.

The "black list" including 20 names will be handed over to the Russian Foreign Ministry through a picket Nashi intend to hold Monday afternoon near to the Foreign Ministry, she said. "[Estonia's] unwanted guests include everybody who fought for the Bronze Soldier and for the memory of those who died in the Great Patriotic War..."

[Stan]

TALLINN, Estonia (AFP)--Estonia has launched an unprecedented two week public amnesty on turning in Soviet-era explosives which people may still be hoarding, an Estonian public security official said Tuesday.

Nearly eight response calls per day...Estonian citizens have turned over almost 47.5 kilos of TNT, 319 electric detonators, 35 various UXO (ranging from 23 to 220mm), 2,008 rounds of military ammunition, six meters of fuse and 500 meters of det cord !

Pretty much what you'd expect from your neighbor's basements

[Stan]

REGNUM Interview with European Parliament member Sahra Wagenknecht

REGNUM: Ms. Wagenknecht, what was your motive when visiting Estonia to observe the trial of the young men accused in organizing disorders?

My fear was — and is — that the trial against the four who are being accused of having initiated and organized disorders last April will go largely unnoticed. This to my mind would be in flagrant disregard of the outrageous accusations brought forth against the four young men by the Estonian authorities...

The EU is always very quick to judge situations happening outside the Union. When it comes to abuses committed by the member states themselves the EU is more than willing to turn a blind eye. This is what from my point of view is happening as regards all matters connected with the events surrounding the so-called Bronze soldier in Tallinn. I regard it all the more important to show presence at the trial in order to show that proceedings do not go unnoticed but that there is a public interest also from outside Estonia as to what is happening to the four men who are facing those charges...

REGNUM: In your statement, you say that there are grounds to suspect that the government itself provoked the disorders in Tallinn streets in April 2007.

It was more than obvious that the removal of the anti-fascist monument would be a provocation especially for the Russian-speaking minority to which this monument has a highly symbolic meaning. The attacks on the monument by the Estonian government had started well before the April events of last year. There were continuous proceedings to change its outlook and to gradually do away with the Bronze soldier as a relic of the anti-fascist past.

REGNUM: Aren't you afraid that Estonian politicians might accuse you of ties with the Kremlin?

This is already happening, and it does not come as a surprise to me. It is always the easiest way to try and attack somebody who does not fit into the general mainstream attitudes.

Estonia which so eagerly is working on being a modern technology society seems to have a severe lack of data protection. This is also a major problem from my point of view as regards the ongoing trial in Tallinn. The alleged evidence brought forth by the authorities seems to be based heavily on the disregard of data security standards. It is obvious that a lack of protection in this respect raises serious concern as regards the adherence to elemental privacy rights on the side of the Estonian authorities.

No real surprises here at Sahra's website

Member of the Executive of the Left Party (DIE LINKE)

Within my party my work aims at ensuring that The Left obtains a clear-cut, unmistakable anti-capitalist party profile, that it continues to be a devout and consequent anti-war party...

...I belong to the leadership of the Communist Platform of the party and am one of the spokespersons of the solidarity movement venezuela avanza. I am also a supporting member of the youth association Left Youth ['solid].

Much more at the links...

[Stan]

MOSCOW (AFP) — Russian schoolchildren hold anti-Estonia protest

Russian school children held a history class about World War II on Saturday outside the Estonian embassy in Moscow in a protest over the removal of a Soviet war monument from central Tallinn.

The class, which was given by a Russian war veteran, was held outdoors in a street near the embassy amid near-freezing temperatures. Around 20 children dressed in winter coats and hats attended, an AFP photographer saw.

The protest was organised by the Mishki (Teddy Bears), a children's group affiliated with the Kremlin-backed youth organisation Nashi, which has carried out numerous protests against Estonia.

[kaur]

Stan mentioned the event with "mishki". Here are photos. This was very sad view. Admiral lied with history facts and children were listening

http://plushkin-papa.livejournal.com/114987.html#cutid1

[Stan]

Stan mentioned the event with "mishki". Here are photos. This was very sad view. Admiral lied with history facts and children were listening

http://plushkin-papa.livejournal.com/114987.html#cutid1

Hey Kaur !
Great link, some kind of forum. Sadly, my Russian sucks (save the bad words). Are the forum comments pro-Russian, neutral, or perhaps a few even pro-Estonian ?

The Nashi are losing ground in Estonia following the Kremlin's decision to box them up for another election year and the overall ban from Schengen Countries.

This Teddy Bear approach looks like North Korea, only they tended to start with kindergarten

Take care over there !

EDIT:
Terv kodumaalt

[kaur]

Almost year has passed ...

Bitter row

But President Ilves believes Moscow loses no opportunity to meddle in the affairs of his tiny country.

Indeed as a former radio journalist, he was keen to quote me a weighty think-tank report that suggests the Kremlin is trying to divide and rule the whole of Europe.

As a former talks writer from a more Russophile background, I was more inclined to give the Kremlin the benefit of the doubt.

Russian perspective

But my views changed a bit when I got to the Kremlin itself.


The Kremlin seems reluctant to let go of its historical influence
I found myself soon afterwards in a grand office behind its intimidating red-brick walls, looking out over the psychedelic onion domes of St Basil's Cathedral and taking tea with President Vladimir Putin's foreign policy adviser, Sergei Prikhodko.

He was so disgusted by the moving of the bronze soldier statue that he could not bring himself to say anything else at all about Estonia.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programme...nt/7258893.stm

[kaur]

There is already pattern in Nashi activities. This time against Russian daily newspaper.

Kommersant Accuses Nashi Hackers
By Nabi Abdullaev
Staff Writer
The Kommersant newspaper has complained to police and prosecutors about a massive hacker attack on its web site, which it suspects was orchestrated by the pro-Kremlin youth group Nashi.

The attacks on the newspaper's web site began last week, Kommersant lawyer Georgy Ivanov said, and the site remained paralyzed for much of Thursday.

Meanwhile, entering the Russian expletive "zasrantsy," or assholes, in popular Internet search engines Yandex, Yahoo and Google returned links to the Kommersant site Thursday.

The Distributed Denial of Service, or DDoS, attacks on the Kommersant site come in the wake of an enigmatic recent campaign against the independent-minded daily in which young people on the street were distributing rolls of toilet paper.

Printed on the toilet paper was the Kommersant logo, a letter purportedly from editor-in-chief Andrei Vasilyev and the cell phone number of Kommersant reporter Yulia Taratuta.

Vasilyev said the letter printed on the toilet paper was a forgery.

Taratuta penned an article published in January in which an unidentified Kremlin official was quoted as calling Nashi activists "jubilant street punks" and saying their services were no longer needed.

Kommersant filed complaints to city police and city prosecutors Wednesday over the toilet-paper incident and hacker attacks, Ivanov said Thursday.

"We don't mention Nashi in our complaints because there are no legal grounds to do so," Ivanov said.

The DDoS attacks on the Kommersant site were increasing Thursday, he said.

A City Prosecutor's Office spokeswoman said investigators were looking into the complaints. She declined to elaborate.

Nashi spokeswoman Kristina Potupchik denied group's involvement in the attacks on the Kommersant site and the toilet paper campaign.

Earlier this month, a detailed plan on how to disrupt the newspaper's operations -- including hacker attacks -- purportedly authored by Potupchik and several other senior Nashi members began making the rounds of the Russian blogosphere.

Potupchik said Thursday that the plan was "a fake."

http://www.moscowtimes.ru/stories/2008/03/14/014.html

[kaur]

The “Bronze Year” of Estonia-Russia relations

13.03.2008, Kadri Liik, ICDS

An article by ICDS director Kadri Liik, The “Bronze Year” of Estonia-Russia relations, appeared in the 2007 Yearbook of the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs that was issued for the 90th anniversary of the Republic of Estonia.

http://www.icds.ee/fileadmin/failid/...ronze_Year.pdf