Estonia dismantles monument to Soviet T-34 tank in Narva

The monument to the Soviet T-34 tank in Estonia’s Narva has been dismantled by order of the country’s government. The monument will be transported to the Estonian War Museum in Viimsi, rus.err.ee reports.

The dismantling process took about three hours, during which the surrounding roads were cordoned off. Sections of the motorway connecting Narva and Narva-Jõesuu are guarded by police.

Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported earlier that Estonia had closed the Narva-Ivangorod border checkpoint with Russia. Several hours later, the checkpoint resumed operations, Russia’s customs service stated.

Works on dismantling other Soviet monuments in the region are currently underway following the decision of the Estonian government.

“Taking into account the quickly rising tensions and confusion regarding the memorials in Narva, we need to act quick to ensure public order and domestic security. This is why the government has decided to dismantle the war monuments from their current locations to avoid them inciting even more hatred in the society and opening up old wounds,” Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas stated during today’s press conference.

The country’s interior minister Lauri Läänemets added that the decision to dismantle the monuments was made by the government, not the local officials. “Taking into account the current situation, it will be hard for the city of Narva to ensure public order and the technical aspect of transporting the monuments. This is a major and, in many ways, difficult situation that the state must resolve by itself. It would have been irresponsible to leave it up to the local government,” Läänemets said.

Mayor of Narva Katri Raik has stated following the dismantling of the monument that she does not plan to run in the parliamentary elections and will instead continue working “for the good of Narva”. “Right now, I cannot imagine sitting in the same room with the people who have made this decision [on dismantling the monuments] and the way they have implemented it, although I do understand it. But I wouldn’t want to be in the same room with them,” Raik said.

Kaja Kallas discussed the dismantling of the T-34 monument in Narva with the local officials on 8 August. The local government then promised to remove the monument within two weeks. It was first decided that the local officials would deal with the dismantling. The plans to remove the monument caused unrest among the local Russian-speaking population, with people camping out in front of the monument.

In early August, the Estonian government decided to remove all Soviet monuments from public view. “The main thing has been decided: we need to remove the red monuments from the public space, and we will do it as soon as possible,” Kallas said.