Russia Protests Removal of Soviet War Memorial in Valga County
Russia's Foreign Ministry has protested the removal of a Soviet monument in Jõgeveste, Valga County, which sits on a WWII Red Army mass grave. The protest was delivered to Estonia's chargé d'affaires in Moscow.
Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry, condemned the removal in a statement issued Friday, calling it part of Estonia's "blasphemous policy" of destroying Soviet memorial heritage. She added that there is no publicly available information regarding the exhumation or reburial location of the human remains, leaving descendants unaware of the whereabouts of their forebears.
The Estonian War Museum has confirmed that the mass grave in Jõgeveste contains the remains of 795 Soviet soldiers, 726 of whom have been identified by name. The monument was removed a few weeks ago, and the remains are currently being analyzed prior to reinterment at a suitable site.
Zakharova also referenced Field Marshal Barclay de Tolly, who commanded Russian forces at the Battle of Borodino in 1812, and mentioned present-day "neo-Nazi" activities in Estonia. She noted that a Government Office working party, established in 2022, had cataloged 322 Soviet monuments earmarked for relocation or removal, with all human remains from those sites reinterred in cemeteries.
