Eesti Paevaleht newspaper said the removal should be one of the first moves by the new Estonian government, which will be formed next week.
Estonian Prime Minister Andrus Ansip, whose party won parliamentary elections March 4, said preparations for the removal of 13 tombs of Soviet soldiers and the six-foot high memorial have already begun under the law on the protection of war burials.
The law adopted January 10 permits the reburial of WWII soldiers from "unsuitable places" or "in the public interest".
The law was vetoed by the president in late February after it sparked off sharp criticism in Russia, which has accused Tallinn of encouraging Nazism and discrimination against ethnic Russians, and even prompted debate on possible sanctions against Estonia.
Defense Minister Jurgen Ligi, who heads the commission for wartime burials, confirmed that "a new site for the Bronze Soldier at the Tallinn military cemetery has been examined and preparations have been launched."
But cemetery officials said no one has discussed the monument's removal with them and no site has been prepared for the statue.
Interior Minister Kalle Laanet said the haste around the removal may cause tensions and disorder, adding that the situation should be explained to the Russian-speaking population.
Russia's Foreign Ministry warned Estonia Wednesday it would face serious consequences for fuelling tensions over Soviet-era war memorials and nurturing Nazi sentiment in the Baltic state.
"Another provocative example is the Estonian ultra-nationalists' plans to reserve the square around the monument on VE-Day to prevent WWII veterans who fought the Nazis from holding their traditional victory celebrations at the site," Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin said.
The Parliamentary Assembly of Collective Security Treaty Organization, a post-Soviet regional security group comprising Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, issued a statement Friday condemning Estonia's intentions to remove the monument as contradicting international law and justifying Nazism at the state level.
Some 50,000 Soviet troops perished in Estonia in 1944 fighting against Nazi Germany. The Soviets regained control of the republic, which many Estonians refer to as an occupation. The bodies of the soldiers killed in action are buried at 450 cemeteries and memorials across the Baltic country.
