Home Europe Russia Puts Estonian PM Kallas On Wanted List For Damaging Monuments

Russia Puts Estonian PM Kallas On Wanted List For Damaging Monuments

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Ramananda Sengupta;
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Russia Puts Estonian PM Kallas On Wanted List For Damaging Monuments

File photo of Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

Russia initiated criminal proceedings against Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas on Tuesday, accusing her of destroying monuments in memory of Soviet soldiers.
TASS quoted Russian law enforcement agencies as saying that criminal proceedings had been launched against Kallas, Estonian Secretary of State Taimar Peterkop and Lithuanian Culture Minister Simonas Kairys for the destruction and damage of monuments to Soviet soldiers.
“Desecration of historical memory and hostility towards Russia are the reasons for declaring Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas and a number of other officials in the Baltic countries wanted,” Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a news briefing. “These people are responsible for decisions that are actually tantamount to desecration of historical memory,” Tass quoted him as saying. Baltic politicians are also “taking hostile actions toward both historical memory and our country,” he added.
According to Tass, Russia’s Investigative Committee in September last year indicted more than 170 foreign nationals in absentia, including citizens of Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland and Ukraine in cases of desecration and destruction of monuments to Soviet soldiers. “Sixteen criminal cases are being investigated over 143 instances of desecration or destruction of or damage to war graves, monuments and memorials to Soviet soldiers,” the news agency said.
Soon after Russian forces entered Ukraine almost two years ago, Kallas announced that Estonia would remove all Soviet monuments from public spaces in the Baltic state. Although mostly symbolic, she’s the first head of state placed on the Russian Interior Ministry’s wanted list since Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine.

On Tuesday, Kallas took to X, formerly Twitter, to declare that “Russia’s move is nothing surprising. This is yet more proof that I am doing the right thing – the #EU’s strong support to #Ukraine is a success and it hurts Russia.
“I’ve always said Russia’s toolbox hasn’t changed. Throughout history, Russia has veiled its repressions behind so-called law enforcement agencies. I know this from my family history. When my grandmother and mother were deported to Siberia, the KGB issued the arrest warrant.
The Kremlin now hopes this move will help to silence me and others – but it won’t. The opposite. I will continue my strong support to Ukraine. I will continue to stand for increasing Europe’s defence,” she said. .
A former part of the Soviet Union, Estonia joined the European Union and acceded to NATO in 2004. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine sparked concern in Estonia that it could be next.
According to CNN, “a report by the Estonian Foreign Intelligence Service said Russia may consider doubling the number of troops stationed on its border with the Baltic countries and increasing those on its frontier with Finland, which joined NATO last year.”
“Estonia’s defense budget is slated to rise to more than 3% of the country’s GDP for the first time this year, well above the 2% threshold target NATO has set for members of the alliance,” said the CNN report.
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