Estonia's decision to remove a Soviet war memorial from the center of the country's capital Tallinn shortly before VE-Day celebrations was condemned by many countries that once belonged to the anti-Hitler coalition, including Russia, which viewed the move as a rebirth of Nazism in Estonia.
"There is no sense talking about it," Andrus Ansip said. "Everyone can see for themselves that Estonia principally condemned Nazi terror, the Holocaust and other crimes. That is why various accusations of Nazism's revival in Estonia are groundless and inappropriate."
The removal of the Bronze Soldier monument sparked violent protests from the ex-Soviet republic's ethnic Russian minority. One person was killed and several dozen injured in clashes with police April 27. Moscow issued strong protests, with some parliamentarians calling for cutting diplomatic ties with Tallinn.
Estonia's attitude to WWII, including officially sanctioned marches by former Nazi SS fighters, has been strongly condemned by Moscow. Ultra-nationalist lawmaker Vladimir Zhirinovsky has branded the Baltic country a "pro-Nazi state," and called for diplomatic ties with Tallinn to be severed.
The Russian leadership has repeatedly called the EU's attention to Estonia's attempts to glorify Nazi Germany, and to its discriminatory policies relating to ethnic Russians who moved to the republic following its annexation by the Soviet Union following the war.
