North-eastern part of Estonia still has a number of monuments to the Red Army, which twice invaded Estonia in the 1940 to impose 50 years of occupation resulting in mass atrocities. A monument of a Soviet tank still stands there, while Russia commits similar crimes in Ukraine. The mayor of the city of Narva has spoken against removing the monument as locals could protest against the move, Estonian public broadcaster ERR and news portal Delfi.ee report.
The monument stands on the Estonian side of the Narva border river, which separates Estonia from Russia. Narva Mayor Katri Raik said in an interview with Delfi.ee that maintaining peace and cordial relations in the city of 57,000 people was more important than the removal of monuments. The site also has a plaque with a text about the of the «liberation» of Narva by invading Red Army.
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«I will say this directly and clearly – I do not think it makes sense to remove the tank at the present moment,» ERR quoted the mayor as saying.
«In that case, the people would really take to the streets, and this is not necessary,» the mayor said. Raik added that the issue has not even been discussed at city government or council chambers-level, ERR reports.
Estonian local government to keep Soviet tank monument to avoid protest
