Estonia's commission on wartime burials recommended March 13 that the 2-meter (6-foot) Bronze Soldier, which for many Estonians is a painful reminder of the five decades of Soviet rule, should be removed from central Tallinn to a military cemetery on the city's outskirts. The plan infuriated officials in Moscow, who said such a move would be "an act of blasphemy" dishonoring the Red Army - the force that, they argue, had liberated Estonia from Nazi Germany at the end of WWII.
However, according to the Russian embassy, "Moscow and Tallinn are not in talks over the removal of the Bronze Soldier."
In a statement, the embassy again condemned the Estonian government's intention to dismantle this and other Soviet-era war memorials, warning that the move would be dangerous as well as immoral, and may undermine European development and security.
