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Article: Estonia Removes Soviet War Memorial
- Article from:
- AP Online
- Article date:
- April 27, 2007
CopyrightCopyright 2007 Associated Press/AP Online. This material is published under license from the publisher through YellowBrix, Alexandria, Virginia. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to YellowBrix. (Hide copyright information)
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TALLINN, Estonia - Estonia removed a Soviet war memorial from downtown Tallinn under cover of darkness early Friday, carrying out a plan that has rankled Russia and provoked street riots that left one person dead and dozens injured.
Lawmakers in Russia called for diplomatic and economic sanctions against its small Baltic neighbor, while Estonia's president appealed for calm and denounced the rioters as "criminals."
Many ethnic Estonians consider the monument to Red Army soldiers killed fighting the Nazis a painful reminder of the hardships they endured during five decades of Soviet rule, and wanted it removed from the city center. They met opposition from Estonia's Russian-speakers, who ...