"Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Glushko expressed deep concern about the lack of a principled assessment from the European Union on Tallinn's actions," the statement said in a reference to the removal of the Soviet-era World War II monument from central Tallinn to a military cemetery last week.
Germany's Walter Schmidt, Portugal's Manuel Marcelo Curto, and Paul Vandoren, deputy head of the European Commission delegation to Russia, were summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry Thursday after the EU moved to back Estonia in the conflict and expressed concern about security of Estonian diplomats in Moscow.
The monument removal sparked a wave of protests, both in Moscow and Tallinn. The Estonian Embassy in Moscow has been under siege by pro-Kremlin youth activists from the Nashi (Ours) movement since last week. The protesters tore down a flag from the embassy building and mobbed Ambassador Marina Kaljurand Wednesday.
Protests in Tallinn, mostly by ethnic Russians, left one Russian dead and many under arrest. Moscow said the protests were "a natural reaction" and accused Estonian police of human rights violations. Foreign Minister Lavrov demanded an investigation into the murder of Dmitry Ganin and immediate access to the detained Russian protesters.
