Russia Declares Estonian PM and others wanted

Russia has today declared Estonian prime minister, Kaja Kallas and several other European officials “wanted” over their alleged involvement in the destruction of Soviet-era war memorials.

Russia said it had added several people to its wanted list in response to the “destruction of monuments to Soviet soldiers”.

This was disclosed by Russia’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stating that “Crimes against the memory of the liberators of the world from Nazism and fascism must be punished. And this is just the beginning,”.

The Kremlin said those declared wanted had taken “hostile actions against historical memory” and Russia.

Maria Zakharova, Russia’s foreign ministry spokeswoman

Among those added were Estonian state secretary Taimar Peterkop, as well as Karol Nawrocki, the head of Poland’s Institute of National Remembrance and also Lithuanian Culture Minister Simonas Kairys, accused Russia of distorting facts.

The monuments had long been controversial in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and seen by many as symbols of their time under Soviet occupation which the three Baltic states began removing and demolishing some of them in response to Russia’s full-scale assault on Ukraine in 2022, prompting outrage in Moscow.

Dolupo Balogun

Written by Boom RadioNG