NATO and the European Union both sided with Estonia last week as the dispute over a Soviet war memorial in Estonia intensified. Rioting by ethnic Russians in the small Baltic state left one dead, many shops looted and led to numerous arrests. Estonia's Embassy in Moscow was blockaded by protestors. The Russian government reacted angrily to the statue's removal.
The monument to the Red Army known as the Bronze Soldier was removed from its original location in the Estonian capital Tallinn in late April. This controversial act has since been greeted by riots which led to the death, 150 injured and over 1,000 arrests. It was relocated to a military cemetery with full military honours three days later. The Russian government condemned the statue's removal as "blasphemous" and several hundred protestors from pro-Kremlin youth movement Nasi (literally meaning "Ours") began blockading the Estonian Embassy in Moscow on 27 April as a protest against the statue's removal, leaving the twelve diplomats effectively imprisoned inside. Last week Estonia began to evacuate the families of its diplomats in Moscow as a precaution.
Russian police at the scene reportedly looked on as the demonstrators vandalized the building. Eduards Stiprais, Ambassador to the EU from neighbouring Latvia, questioned why the Russian police were unable to control the crowd when they had been able to suppress opposition demonstrations against President Putin so effectively just a few weeks earlier.
A furious Russian response
The Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was bitter in his condemnation of Estonia's actions. "The Estonian government has spat on values. I cannot understand it when people try to lay blame for historical events on somebody or try to compare Communism with Nazism," he said.
As perhaps a taste of what other countries contemplating the removal of Soviet war memorials can expect, Russia stopped rail deliveries of oil products to its Baltic neighbour last Wednesday. Russia has repeatedly denied that it uses its increasing domination of the European energy market as a political tool, although Poland, Belarus and Georgia have all accused it of this in the last couple of years. Estonian government websites also came under sustained attack from hackers, and according to Estonian government technical analysts the attacks originated from government agencies in Russia.
Dispute spreads across Europe
Estonia also appears to be attempting to internationalise the dispute and get support from the EU which it joined in 2004. "The issue of the Bronze Soldier and vandalism in Tallinn is a matter for Estonia, but the coordinated activity of Russia against Estonia is a matter for the whole EU," Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet said last Tuesday.
"We share the concern about the growing tension around Estonia's Embassy, and demand that Russian authorities implement their obligations within the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations," European Commission spokeswoman Christiana Homan said last Wednesday. Just how far the Commission will go to defend member state Estonia is as yet unclear.
NATO also became involved and issued a statement demanding an end to the blockade of the Estonian Embassy. "NATO is deeply concerned by threats to the physical safety of Estonian diplomatic staff, including the ambassador, in Moscow, as well as intimidation at the Estonian Embassy," the alliance said in a statement. "These actions are unacceptable, and must be stopped immediately; tensions over the Soviet war memorial and graves in Estonia must be resolved diplomatically between the two countries," NATO added.
The long-planned but troubled EU summit with Russia, scheduled for 18 May in Samara, has already faced vetoes from Poland and Lithuania who have accused their former overlord of using energy and food as weapons against them. Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet, said last Tuesday that the EU should give "full consideration" to postponing the summit, although the Commission appears to have no appetite to put off the summit and Estonia seems reluctant to use its veto.
Similar issues face Poland, Hungary
Estonia's decision appears to have emboldened the Polish government. At the end of April its Ministry of Culture announced that it is planning to table a draft bill in mid-May to remove "the [symbolic] remains of Communist oppression" from public spaces. The governing coalition in Poland is pursuing a policy of decommunisation which also includes purging Communist era secret police collaborators from public life. Polish President Lech Kaczynski promised to support Estonia's actions in a recent phone call with Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves. There are other large, centrally located Soviet war memorials around the region including in Vienna, Bratislava and Budapest.
The World Federation of Hungarians earlier this year spent several months collecting over 200,000 signatures calling for a referendum on removing the Red Army memorial from Freedom Square in central Budapest. However, in April the group decided that it would not submit the signatures to Hungary's national election committee to request a national referendum as parliament was considering a bill that would invalidate the law that led to the erection of the war memorial in the first place. The current Hungarian governing coalition, which is dominated by former Communists, enjoys good relations with Putin's government and it is difficult to envisage the government removing the memorial. The Budapest war memorial has been fenced off for several years to protect it from vandalism, but it still suffered serious damage during anti-government riots last autumn. Clauses to protect Soviet war memorials were standard in treaties regulating the withdrawal of Soviet troops from countries in the eastern bloc after the change of regime and the break-up of the Soviet Union.
Differing views of WWII apparent
The tension between Russia and Estonia and other countries in the region reflects two very different views of the Second World War. Russians believe that the Red Army liberated Eastern Europe from the Nazis and are proud of their decisive role in defeating the German war machine. In contrast, many citizens of countries they claim to have liberated do not regard the Soviet military advance as a liberation at all, but rather as the start of decades of servitude and the replacement of Nazi tyranny with the Soviet version. They are also unhappy at commemorating an army that was notorious for its looting, brutal treatment of civilian populations and maltreatment of women. One Red Army memorial in Berlin is still colloquially known as the "Tomb of the Unknown Rapist." These diametrically opposed views of the war have endured for over half a century and appear unlikely to be reconciled in the near future.
Russia marks its victory over Nazi Germany on May 9 and tensions could once again reach boiling point as the 62nd anniversary of the end of the conflict approaches.
