The government of Estonia agreed to remove all Soviet monuments from public space as soon as possible. This is reported by the Estonian publication ERR.
"We have decided the main thing, the communist monuments must be moved from public space and we will do it as quickly as possible. The specific time and order depends on the readiness and logistical plans of local governments, logistics require exactly the same consideration, organization and the involvement of the private sector," said Prime Minister Kaja Kallas.
In total, there are 200 to 400 such monuments in Estonia. Anyone who has such monuments on private territory can move them themselves.
A special issue is the Narva tank, which belongs to the city of Narva (88% of the population is Russian), and, accordingly, "tensions are emerging", so the government itself will make a decision on moving this monument.
A crowd of people near the tank monument in Narva.
"It is important to overemphasize that commemorating the dead is not prohibited in any way and will not be prohibited, but that it should be done in the right place, and that is at a cemetery, where it can be done with dignity. A tank is a murder weapon, it is not a memorial object, and these same tanks are killing people on the streets of Ukraine right now," said the Prime Minister.
- Latvia made a similar decision regarding the demolition of Soviet monuments at the beginning of July. In some places, local administrations have already decided what to do with the dismantled monuments. For example, they are offered to be moved to the cemetery where soldiers of the Soviet army are buried.