Moscow issues demarche to EU state over WWII memorial ‘vandalism’

Estonia’s envoy has been summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry over the removal of memorials at a Soviet WWII cemetery

The Russian Foreign Ministry has condemned the demolition of Soviet WWII memorials at the Tallinn military cemetery and lodged a formal protest with Estonia’s acting chargé d’affaires in Moscow over what it described as yet another act of vandalism.   

The ministry said the demarche took place on Monday following the latest incident involving the destruction of Soviet war memorials.   

Earlier this month, the Russian Embassy in Tallinn reported that staff from Estonia’s Military Museum had dismantled the monuments over the mass graves of Soviet soldiers who died fighting in World War II. The Russian diplomatic mission accused Tallinn of attempting to rewrite history through such actions.  

In response to the latest “act of vandalism,” Russia’s Foreign Ministry summoned Estonia’s chargé d’affaires in Moscow, Jana Vanamelder to lodge a formal protest, the ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.   

The diplomat was told that “following a meeting at the Russian Foreign Ministry in March 2025 over the desecration of Soviet soldiers’ graves, Tallinn had not only failed to draw the necessary conclusions but had also cynically continued to escalate the situation.”  

The ministry added that Estonian officials justify the removal of memorial plaques at the military cemetery by claiming there are no remains of Soviet sailors or Red Army soldiers buried beneath them.   

Read more

The ministry noted that such actions are taking place as Estonia continues to commemorate Nazi SS legionnaires, with new monuments being erected in their honor across the country.  

Last year, the Estonian authorities inaugurated a restored monument to two Waffen-SS veterans who fought on the German side against the Soviet Army in World War II.  

The 20th Estonian SS Volunteer Division was part of the Waffen-SS Estonian Legion, which was involved in numerous atrocities.   

Russia “strongly condemns Tallinn’s deliberate actions aimed at desecrating memorials at the burial sites of Soviet soldiers – including those who gave their lives liberating Europe from Nazi oppression,” the ministry said, adding that “such actions are particularly sacrilegious” in the year marking the 80th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s victory in World War II.  

Estonia considers its time under Soviet rule a military occupation and, like Baltic neighbors Latvia and Lithuania, has been systematically removing symbols from that period – including WWII monuments honoring fallen Soviet troops.  

Russian officials have for years sounded the alarm over the resurgence of Nazi ideology in the Baltic states, claiming that these countries are revising history by portraying their collaboration with Adolf Hitler’s Germany as a fight for independence.