estosite

Last Updated: 12:01am BST 15/05/2007 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2007/05/15/do1503 .xml&DCMP=EMC-new_15052007

Last week saw the commemoration of Victory Day in Russia, which remembers the defeat of Nazi Germany in the Second World War. Last month came the upsetting removal of a Soviet war memorial, known as The Bronze Soldier, from the centre of the Estonian capital, Tallinn, to a Russian military cemetery on its outskirts.

These events forced me to revisit aspects of the Soviet Union’s shameful and violent communist past, which now need to be addressed by present-day Russia in order to preserve relations between my motherland and post-communist Eastern Europe.

There are several unquestionable truths that were passed on to the majority of Soviet citizens from their parents. Some were destroyed by the reality of life, but one remained intact and holy: that Soviet soldiers liberated the world from the Nazi plague. That is my belief as well. But on the other hand. . .

The current battles between Russia and Estonia (concerning the reburial of Soviet soldiers’ remains) have much wider significance than just being one more spat between Russia and its former vassals.

The roots of this clash go much deeper than the gas wars against Ukraine (and then Belarus), than the war of wines against Georgia, and deeper even than Russia’s struggle against the deployment of US missile defence elements in Eastern Europe.

The fundamental cause of this conflict lies in the main unsolved issue of modern Russia: the denial by the Kremlin, and by President Vladimir Putin, of the Soviet regime’s criminal nature.

Objectively, this issue was inherited by President Putin from former president Yeltsin. Boris Yeltsin undoubtedly made several mistakes, some of which are the favourite theme of his detractors. They all, however, stay silent about the two main mistakes of Russia’s first president.

First, Yeltsin lacked the will (or, maybe, the courage) to indict the communist regime as a criminal one - no less so than the Nazi regime, with all the resulting consequences for the communists themselves, and for their vanguard, the Soviet secret police. Second, Yeltsin also failed to lead Russia to repentance, to make every Russian acknowledge his own responsibility for the crimes of the communist regime. Without repentance, however, those who were oppressed and raped by Russia, such as Estonia and the other Baltic states, will never trust it again.

It is not just that Putin has not corrected these mistakes, he has actually brushed aside the idea of repentance altogether. The return of the Soviet national anthem for Russia points to the Kremlin’s outdated view of Russia and its place in the modern world.

On top of that, playing the Soviet anthem during Yeltsin’s funeral was a particularly elaborate way of abusing the memory of a man who bestowed freedom upon Russia, and others beside it.

It is a well-known historical fact that the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany constituted a replacement of Nazi oppression with Communist enslavement for Eastern European countries - an enslavement that lasted for 45 years, far longer than Nazism. Therefore, the defeat that Putin’s Russia is now suffering in Estonia will soon reverberate around Poland, Hungary, Latvia, and other places where the crimes of the Communist Party and KGB were duly appraised. Thus, the cause of the abuse of our soldiers’ graves is not the bad behaviour of the Estonian government, but the very denial of historical truth by the Kremlin.

So, who is the Soviet Soldier, really - a liberator or an enslaver? The answer to this question can be given only by the people of Russia. If we will not repent, he will remain the enslaver. And if repentance comes, he will be an honest but misguided soldier. May that memory be blessed forever.

______________________

Boris Berezovsky was formerly deputy secretary of the Russian National Security Council, Secretary General of the Commonwealth of Independent States and a member of the Russian State Duma.

May 10th 2007
From Economist.com 

IT HAS been a depressing couple of weeks for those who worry about Russian imperialism and sympathise with the underdog. But it has not been entirely hopeless. Things started off badly: Estonia’s decision to move a Soviet-era war memorial from a prominent spot in Tallinn to a military cemetery at the end of April aroused hostile passions among Russians and their sympathisers, and drew alarmingly muted and belated support from Estonia’s allies. All four of the big European countries—Britain, France, Germany and Italy—said little or nothing. NATO and the European Union waited until Russia had, as usual, undermined its position by grossly over-reacting. America came up trumps in the end, inviting Estonia’s president, Toomas Hendrik Ilves, to the White House—but the invitation could have come a week earlier.

Others sided outright with the Kremlin. Gerhard Schröder, the former German chancellor who now chairs a Russian-German gas pipeline, said Estonia had contradicted “every form of civilised behaviour”. Given that at the time of his comment thugs were blockading—and threatening to dismantle—Estonia’s embassy in Moscow, it would be interesting to know Mr Schröder’s definition of “civilised”.

But there have also been some rather encouraging signs. The Estonians, who had been leaning towards taking a share in Mr Schröder’s pipeline, abruptly cancelled his planned visit to Tallinn.

Some of Russia’s best independent journalists, initially wrongfooted by Estonia’s bungled handling of the issue, have been putting the other side of the story.

Natalya Gevorkyan on Gazeta.ru, a Russian news site, pointed out the extraordinary hypocrisy in the Soviet Union’s wartime myths—not least in the shameful treatment of disabled veterans. Why does Russia kick up a fuss about minor issues, such as the monument, and ignore bigger ones? Yuliya Latynina on Ekho Moskvy, Russia’s only independent radio station, suggested that the fracas over Estonia was a dry run for some imminent bigger and nastier stunt that will give Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president, a pretext to ignore the constitution and stay in power.

Also heartening is that, after an initial burst of government panic, Estonia seems to be getting its own public-relations act together. Someone has coined the phrase “Nashism” to describe the authoritarian populist (ie, fascist) philosophy of the Kremlin-run youth movement, “Nashi” (“Ours”). After a fortnight in which Estonia’s enemies made clever use of the cheap jibe that the country is oozing with nostalgia for the Waffen SS by spelling the country’s name as eSStonia, the president’s surname as IlveSS and the prime minister’s as AnSSip, it is encouraging to see a counter-attack. Having leapfrogged into the internet age, and with a high level of competence in both English and Russian, few countries are better placed than Estonia to fight a propaganda war in cyberspace.

Estonia’s biggest advantage is Russia’s stupidity. Had the demonstrators in Tallinn pitched a peaceful tent city round the war memorial’s original location, aping the tactics of the “Orange Revolution” in Kiev, the Estonian police would have risked looking heavy-handed when they cleared it away. But instead, the assembled riff-raff quickly dropped the boring business of political protest in favour of smashing windows, looting shops, destroying “fascist bus shelters” and revelling in other acts of hooliganism. That blurred hopelessly the image that the Russian spooks in Tallinn had hoped to get across: of peaceful, idealistic young people standing up for their rights.

Crashing the Estonian government’s servers by swamping them with millions of bogus clicks may have also seemed like a good idea at the time. But the result has been to alarm NATO, which is now drawing on Estonian computer geeks’ expertise in dealing with possible threats elsewhere.Russia remains a rather ineffective bully.

But the unsettling question remains—not just for Estonia, Georgia and Poland, but for everyone—what happens if once, just once, Russia played its cards wisely and well? 

In 1994, Russian President Boris Yeltsin and his Estonian counterpart, the polymath Lennart Meri, chummily drank together in a Kremlin chamber as their foreign ministers labored nearby to complete a historic treaty to withdraw all Russian troops from the tiny Baltic state. 

When it was time to celebrate the finished draft, Yeltsin mocked his own foreign minister, Andrei Kozyrev, for his weak drinking skills — “Bring the boy some ice cream,” he roared to an attendant — but approved the agreement. That may have been the high-water mark of Russia’s willingness to face its imperialist history and allow its neighbors to live in peace.

How far Russia has regressed since then became shockingly evident last week when Vladimir Putin’s Russia (population: 143 million) unleashed a barrage against neighboring Estonia (population: 1.34 million) that included Kremlin cyber-attacks on official Estonian Web sites, gangs of Kremlin-sponsored youths menacing Estonian diplomats in Moscow, Russian officials and government-controlled media spewing incendiary propaganda, Russian companies suspending contracts with Estonian firms and, in predictably Putinian fashion, Russian threats to cut off the tiny nation’s energy supplies. (Suddenly, the Russian railway announced, all its coal-carrying railcars were in desperate need of repair.) The onslaught illustrated the dangerous real-world consequences of mythologizing history — of Putin’s glorification of Stalinism — and the link between Russia’s atrophied democracy and its increasingly aggressive foreign policy.

The episode began on April 26 when Estonia began relocating a Soviet-era war memorial and the remains of a dozen Soviet soldiers buried beneath it from a central square in the capital, Tallinn, to a nearby military cemetery. Russian-speaking youth, after meeting with Russian diplomats, rioted in protest. Russia’s foreign minister attacked this “disgusting . . . blasphemy.” The upper house of Russia’s parliament demanded a severing of relations. The Kremlin-controlled press furiously (and inaccurately) assailed the “dismantling” of the statue.

Why such a fuss? To Russians, the statue was a tribute to their overwhelming losses in World War II — which they know as the Great Patriotic War. To Estonians, it was a reminder of a half-century of Soviet occupation during which the Kremlin shot thousands of Balts; sent hundreds of thousands to Siberia; moved hundreds of thousands of Russians in to take their places; and tried to eradicate their culture, their language and any memory of independence.

The trouble is that Russia has never acknowledged this history, and under Putin it grows less and less willing to do so. The passing of the Soviet Union is mourned, the old KGB is celebrated — imagine if Germans continued to honor the Gestapo — and the current independence of former Soviet states is treated as a transitory error. Neither Putin nor even his foreign minister has deigned to pay a bilateral visit to independent Tallinn. Virtually every neighbor — Georgia, Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania, even Finland — has been subjected to bullying.

“It seems they cannot tolerate any democracy on their borders,” Estonian President Toomas Ilves told me in a phone conversation late Friday night. He sounded weary after a week of crisis, but hopeful that tensions would ease, particularly after Estonia had received support from the West, including an invitation that day from President Bush for Ilves to visit the White House in June.

Democracy in Estonia or Georgia, Ilves suggested, calls into question Kremlin claims that “Western-style” democracy won’t work in that part of the world. An absence of democracy at home, in turn, makes it awkward to face history, “because if you start saying the Soviet Union was bad, well, what was at fault? One-party rule, a lack of human rights?” — it’s all too familiar.

Russian leaders dwell inordinately on the lack of respect paid them — but the more they stifle democracy at home, the less cause others have to show respect and the more the Kremlin ends up having to demand respect in a Soviet way. “Now Germany commands a tremendous amount of respect,” Ilves told me, “not because people any longer are afraid of it, but because it is a thriving and effective country.

“For Russia, respect is based not on achievement or accomplishment, but intimidation and fear — that was the ‘greatness’ of the Soviet Union.”

Yeltsin, for all his drinking and Siberian gruffness, had at least glimmers of understanding that Russia could become a greater country by withdrawing unwanted troops than by imposing them. Putin, clean-cut and fit, seems the more modern man. But his troops remain in parts of neighboring Georgia and Moldova, and no decisive Kremlin summits to solve those problems, with vodka or ice cream, seem likely anytime soon.

fredhiatt@washpost.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:              Contacts: Garrette Silverman or Chris Paulitz     
May 4, 2007                                                             (202) 224-7784

SEN. VOINOVICH RESOLUTION CONDEMNING VIOLENCE IN ESTONIA PASSES THE SENATE

WASHINGTON, D.C. – A resolution introduced by U.S. Senator George V. Voinovich (R-OH), a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, expressing support for Estonia and condemning the recent outbreak of violence in Estonia and against its embassies in Moscow and around the world passed the Senate last night. The resolution denounces the violence, vandalism and looting that has taken place in Estonia, as well as the attacks and threats against its embassies and officials in Russia and other countries. Senators Joseph Biden (D-DE), Gordon Smith (R-OR), Joseph Lieberman (D-CT) and Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) are original co-sponsors of the resolution.

“The United States Senate stands in solidarity with the Estonian people as they cope with the current unrest and work to bring it to an end,” Sen. Voinovich said. “We are deeply concerned about the violence and vandalism that has been perpetrated against the Estonian embassy and its officials overseas. Violence and intimidation in the region is a dangerous relic of the Soviet era and I call on my Senate colleagues to join me in condemning this outrage.”

The resolution expresses the sense of the Senate that all governments should condemn this violence, encourage peaceful protests and oblige by their commitments to the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations. It also supports the efforts of the Estonian government to initiate a dialogue with the Russian government to resolve the crisis peacefully and to sustain cooperation between their two sovereign, independent states.

Riots broke out in Tallinn for several days following the government’s decision Wednesday to transfer a Soviet memorial statue out of the city center to another military cemetery where the war dead are honored. Members of the Russian Duma visited Estonia on April 30 and issued an official statement calling for the resignation of the Estonian government. For several days, the Estonian embassy in Moscow was surrounded by angry protestors and youth groups who tore down the Estonian flag from the building and harassed and assaulted embassy officials, including Ambassador Kalijurand. They also attacked the car of the Swedish Ambassador to Russia as he left the Estonian embassy.

Estonia was forced to close its embassy and suspend consular services to Moscow because conditions remained unsafe for embassy officials. The Estonian government also reported cyber attacks on its government Web sites that they claim were traced to the Kremlin.

Estonia gained independence from Russia in 1918, but was forcibly reincorporated in 1940. The Soviet Army drove out the occupying Nazis from Estonia during World War II, for which the Bronze statue was erected. Estonia, now in NATO, gained independence once again in 1991.

– END –

Ms. Garrette M.K. Silverman
Press Secretary
Senator George V. Voinovich
Phone: (202)224-7784
Fax: (202) 228-0501
Garrette_Silverman@voinovich.senate.gov

 Mart Laar, Isamaa ja Res Publica liit, www.DELFI.ee
4. mai 2007 5:47Kui veel mõni päev tagasi võis rääkida Eesti sees toimuvast konfliktist, siis praeguseks on selle laiem tagamaa ilmselt igaühele selgeks saanud. Moskvas toimuv Eesti saatkonna blokaad, millele lisandusid füüsiline rünne proua saadiku vastu ning saatkonda külastanud Rootsi saadiku transpordi ründamine, ei jäta kahtlust, et kogu aktsioon Eesti vastu on põhjalikult ja kaua ette valmistatud.Muinasjuttu, nagu ei suudaks Venemaa saatkonna ees protestivate valitsuserakonna noorteorganisatsioonide vastu midagi ette võtta, ei usu küll keegi. See meenutab järjest rohkem sündmusi omal ajal Iraanis, kus täiesti „sõltumatud” üliõpilasorganisatsioonid Ühendriikide saatkonna rohkem kui aastaks pantvangi võttis. Venemaa võimuorganitest, sealhulgas Venemaa presidendi kantseleist lähtuv küberrünnak kinnitab seda veelgi.Näib, et kuskil Moskvas on keegi langetanud otsuse, et tal on sellest „tšuhnaade vabariigist” küllalt. Eesti on olnud liiga edukas ning liiga iseseisev, tema poolt Gruusiale ja teistele Moskva kontrolli alt vabaneda soovivatele riikidele tõhus ja tagajärjekas partner — Eesti valitsus tuleb välja vahetada ja punkt. Eks seda juttu on Vene saatkonnas varemgi räägitud, kuid nüüd tehakse seda avalikult. Źdanovid on Eestisse oma visiidi juba teinud, küsimus, kas nad siin ka uute Vares-Barbaruste ja Neeme Ruusidega kohtusid, on hetkel veel lahtine. See kõik teeb järjest selgemaks, et Eestis pole tegemist etnilise vastasseisu, vaid vastasseisuga nende vahel, kes ei tunnusta 1918. aastal rajatud, 1940. aastal okupeeritud ning 1991. aastal taastatud Eesti Vabariiki, ja nende vahel, kes seda sõltumata rahvusest või kodakondsusest tunnustavad. Vene lipuga poode rüüstama roninud „Rossija! Rossija” skandeerinud tegelaste suurim unistus oleks, et eestlased kõiki venelasi nende pättidega samastama hakkaksid. See ei tohi juhtuda. 99% mitte-eestlastest ei lasknud end provokaatoritest ahvatleda, isegi kui pronkssõduri äraviimine nende meelest õige samm polnud. Seda enam teevad mulle rõõmu viimastel päevadel minu meilipostkasti saabunud toetusavaldused venelastelt, ukrainlastelt, aseritelt jt, kes avaldavad oma nördimust toimuva pärast ning paluvad, et kogu vene rahvast nende märatsejatega ei samastataks. Mõnigi neist soovib kaitseliitu astuda või abipolitseiga liituda. Need inimesed on aru saanud, et rünnaku alla pole võetud mitte eestlased, vaid Eesti riik. Ning selle riigi hävitamist ei soovi nemadki. Sest Moskva jaoks on nemadki vaenlased. Venemaal välja hõisatud blokaadi Eesti kaupadele ning kaubandusblokaad lööb eriti valusalt just venekeelset elanikkonda, keda otsekui soovitakse karistada lojaalsuse eesti Eestile. Ajalugu teadvatele inimestel on hästi teada, et 1940. aastal olid esimeste arreteeritute ja maha lastute seas just kohaliku vene kogukonna liidrid ja aktiivsed tegelased. Minge Liiva kalmistule Kose-Scheeli krundil 1940-1941 surnukspiinatute monumendi juurde ja vaadake — ligi kolmandiku on sellel vene nimed. Üks vene tuttav juhtis mu tähelepanu Venemaa ühe tuntuima teleajakirjaniku Mihhail Leontjevi üleskutsele „hävitada eestlasi samal kombel nagu tšetšeeni separatiste”. Tšetšeenias vene sõdurid tšetšeenil ja venelasel teatavasti vahet ei teinud. Vene šovinistide jaoks on eestlane igaüks, kes lojaalselt Eesti riiki suhtub ja „omad” need, kes Tallinnas poode rüüstavad. On öeldud, et mis ei tapa, see teeb tugevaks. Nii on ka Eesti riigiga. Oleme viimase nädalaga kõvasti targemaks saanud. Loodan, et suudame edaspidi toimida nõnda, et veelahe Eesti riiklust tunnustavate eestimaalaste ning Venemaa rüppe tagasi igatsejate vahel selgeks saaks. Selleks tuleb meil kõigil aga palju rohkem üksteisega suhelda — mõõdetamatult rohkem, kui seda seni tehtud on.

29. aprill, 2007

Lgp. EV Peaminister Andrus Ansip!

Eesti Rahvuskomitee Ühendriikides nimel tervitan Teid ja avaldan Ameerika eestlaste toetust ja usaldust Eesti valitsusele ja riigile Pronkssõduri ümberpaigutamise otsuse läbiviimisel. Kahjuks on sellest kinni haaranud huligaanide hulk, kes on momendi ära kasutanud rüüstamiseks. Samal ajal on Venemaa valitsus oma aluseta süüdistusega proovinud olukorda Eestis teravdada ja mõjutada välismaailma oma valedega.

Oleme valmis abiks olema Eesti valitsusele olukorra selgitamisel USA-s, kui see tarvilikuks osutub. Peame kontakti Eesti Suursaatkonnaga Washingtonis, et kursis olla sündmustega Eestis.

Parimate tervitustega,

Marju Rink-Abel
Esinaine

cc: EV Presidendi kantselei
Eesti Suursaatkond Washingtonis

The resolution has been introduced by Senator Voinovich on May 3, 2007, with Senators Biden, Lieberman, Mikulski and Smith as co-sponsors.
More information is forthcoming… check back soon.

Congressman Thaddeus McCotter today voiced his strong support for Estonia on the House floor today:

Estonia Statute Crisis
Hon. Thaddeus G. McCotter, United States Representative; United States House of Representatives
May 3, 2007

Mister/Madam Speaker, I rise to defend the sovereignty and national dignity of our friend and ally Estonia; condemn Russia’s unwarranted intrusions against these free people; and affirm our commitment to America and Estonia?s common cause of human freedom. After a long, illegal, and unjust Soviet occupation, Estonia now rightly and proudly stands by our side in the ranks of free nations. Nobly and selflessly, Estonia is steadfast in its defense of civilization from our barbaric enemies, and has championed the cause of human freedom throughout our world. Disturbingly, last week this free people’s very national sovereignty was threatened.
In what should come as no surprise to Americans, whose own Founding generation gained their independence from an imperial power, Estonia relocated an aging statute of a Soviet-era soldier from a central location in Tallinn to the city’s Garrison Cemetery. Obstinately refusing to recognize Estonia?s patent right to do so, or the obvious irony in the
statue?s new location, Russia used this routine act of municipal administration by the City of Tallinn to engage in a coordinated attempt to interfere in Estonia?s internal affairs.
Using state-controlled TV broadcasts into Estonia, the former Soviet Union used its state controlled television broadcasts to spew propaganda into Estonia. This provocative Russian propaganda falsely claimed Estonia’s relocation of the insulting Soviet statue constituted an international crisis. Russia did so to agitate and, thereby, incite the vandalism and violence which occurred in Tallin from April 26th through 29th. Prior to these outbreaks of violence, Russian E mbassy officials were observed meeting with the organizers of radical pro-Russia fringe groups; and, while Russian-speaking mobs roamed Tallinn?s streets, Estonia’s government web servers came under cyber attack, the cause of which was later traced to IP addresses located in Moscow and owned by the Russian Presidential Administration. So too, there is a new report Russia has conveniently discovered a need to repair its rail links entering Estonia and, as a result, is suspending oil shipments to Estonia. Further, Russia continues to flout the Vienna Convention by allowing Russian nationalist extremists to surround and vandalize Estonia?s Embassy in Moscow.

Mr. Speaker, when one weights this inexcusable incident along with Russia’s recent refusal to adhere to the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty, its recent arrest of Russian democracy advocates, and its refusal to honor past agreements to withdraw its military forces from countries, such as Moldova, one is compelled to question a former-KGB lieutenant colonel’s commitment to democracy; and whether the red bear is awakening from its hibernation to once more feast upon the free peoples of eastern Europe and the world.

Mister/Madame Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join in a righteous defense of Estonia?s sovereignty; a condemnation of Russia’s belligerent intrusions into this democratic nation’s internal affairs; and affirm, in the tradition of American Presidents from Harry Truman to Ronald Reagan, we will stand united against tyranny with our Estonian brothers and sisters as one free people.

Washington, DC…..Congressman John Shimkus (R, Illinois-19) issued the
following statement in support of Estonia:

“I strongly condemn Russian actions and look forward to Russia’s swift cooperation
in respecting the sovereignty of Estonia. I call for an immediate end to the blockade
of the Estonian Embassy in Moscow, as well as for the cancellation of all other
attempts to undermine the Estonian government. If necessary, I am ready to raise
this issue on the floor of the United States House.”

Shimkus is co-chair of the Baltic Caucus and a U.S. delegate to the NATO
Parliamentary Assembly.

The Estonian Embassy in Moscow has been under siege by demonstrators since
April 26, and Russian authorities are not controlling the situation. Before making a
visit to Estonia, a Russian Duma (parliament) delegation issued a statement that “the
government must step down.”

The Russians are also making cyber attacks against official Estonian websites.
Estonia has also increased border security in order to stop pro-Putin extremists from
entering the country.

The riots and looting by Russians in Tallinn and elsewhere in Estonia, which arose in conjunction with the relocation of the Bronze Soldier Memorial, and the lies and arrogant behavior of the Russian government toward the Republic of Estonia, the Estonian Embassy in Moscow, and against all Estonians, need to be examined and condemned. The EANC calls upon all Estonians to write letters to newspapers, as well as to your representatives in the U.S. Congress, to the U.S. President, and to the State Department. The letters should clarify the current situation, and demand a strong statement from the American government in reaction to Russia’s arrogant behavior. Below are important addresses and English-language information which you may selectively use in your letters. Please especially mention the difficult situation of the Estonian Embassy in Moscow.

This critical situation needs the quick support of every Estonian!

Marju Rink-Abel
President

Addresses:

U.S. Senate: www.senate.gov
Office of Senator (Name)
United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510
Telephone: U.S. Capitol switchboard: 202-224-3121.

Senate Baltic Freedom Caucus members: Senators Richard Durbin (IL), Gordon Smith (OR), Joseph Lieberman (CT), Dianne Feinstein (CA), Charles Grassley IA), George Voinovich (OH), Barbara Boxer (CA) , Debbie Stabenow (MI), Barbara Mikulski (MD), Ben Nelson (NE), Robert Bennett (UT).

Senate Foreign Relations Committee: Senator Joseph Biden, Chair; Senator Richard Lugar, Ranking Minority Member

U.S. House of Representatives: www.house.gov
Office of Representative (Name)
U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, DC 20515
Telephone: U.S. Capitol switchboard – 202-224-3121.

U.S. House Baltic Caucus: Rep. John Shimkus (Illinois) and Rep. Dennis Kucinich (Ohio), co-chairs.
President:
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
FAX: 202-456-2461
Email to: comments@whitehouse.gov

State Department:
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20520
202-647-4000

Information for use in letters:

• In 1940, Estonia was occupied and illegally annexed by the Soviet Union for more than 50 years. As a result of this occupation and massive deportations, Estonia suffered great human losses. During this time, large numbers of Russians were moved to Estonia, most of them remaining there after Estonia regained its independence. The Bronze Soldier Memorial was erected by the Soviets in 1947 as a memorial to the Red Army. The celebration of Second World War victories and liberations is therefore highly controversial in Estonia. To Estonians this statue symbolizes a 50-year Soviet occupation of repression, deportations, bloody murders, and the attempted annihilation of the Estonian people and the Estonian language.

• The Bronze Soldier Memorial was erected in the center of the capital city of Tallinn. The Estonian government’s aim in moving it was to place the memorial in a cemetery, which is a more fitting location for the commemorations held by the Russian population in Estonia. This action has been used as a pretext for the extensive rioting and looting in Tallinn by Russian protesters, starting on April 27.

• The Memorial and remains buried with it have been relocated with due honor and respect. The statue was opened to the public on April 30, and was already visited that day by a few hundred people.

• Russia has used the relocation of the memorial to a military cemetery to launch a misinformation campaign aimed at discrediting Estonia. Russian diplomats in Estonia have also actively led and organized the activities of political fringe groups. The Estonian security services have ascertained that the memorial is being used as a pretext for inciting hatred.

• The upper house of Russia’s parliament called on President Vladimir Putin to break off diplomatic ties with Estonia, and the Kremlin has warned of “serious consequences.” Some of the 1,000 rioters arrested arrived only in recent days from Russia.

• The Estonian ambassador to Russia, Marina Kaljurand, has ordered Embassy workers in Moscow not to come to work, as their safety is not guaranteed by the Russian police. The Embassy has been surrounded for several days by Russians who block its entrances. Russian youth organizations are attacking the embassy building in a variety of ways. Embassy staff is effectively being held hostage inside the building. Estonia sent a strongly worded note to the Russian government demanding that it fulfill its responsibilities to protect Estonian diplomats and the Embassy.

• Attacks against Estonian government web servers beginning on April 27 are coming from Moscow government IP-addresses. Estonian Minister of Justice Rein Lang stated that the attacks are meant to impede the work of Estonian government agencies, and because of that, the home pages of government organizations cannot be accessed from outside of Estonia.

• An underground terrorist group under the name “Kolivan,” Army of Russian Resistance, asked on the internet on April 28 for president Vladimir Putin to send the Russian army into Estonia….”Our purpose is to create an independent Russian state on the territory of Estonia … We call on all Russian men living in Estonia … to follow our example, and to begin to form independent groups of that Army. We will strike blows on all communication systems, electric, gas, and gasoline supply lines, on rail communications, airports, and water systems of large cities. We will burn houses and property.”

• Since the restoration of its independence, Estonia has been the object of an extensive long-term Moscow-led misinformation campaign aimed at discrediting and destabilizing Estonia. Russia’s unconstructive policy towards Estonia has unfortunately impeded the development of pragmatic and good neighborly bilateral relations.

• Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen has spoken out against Russia’s demands that Estonia’s government resign. He stated that should pressure such as the demands of the Russian Duma be addressed to Estonia, it would be natural for Finland and all the other European Union nations to show solidarity and support for Estonia. Several other countries, including Poland, Latvia and Lithuania, have also condemned the riots and expressed support for Estonia. European Union’s Javier Solana told President Toomas Hendrik Ilves that the European Union understands and supports Estonia, and condemned the violence in Tallinn.

We strongly urge the United States to demonstrate firm support for Estonia at this critical time; in particular:
• to protest Russia’s deliberate inaction and lack of protection against attacks on the Estonian embassy in Moscow, thus endangering the lives of Estonian diplomats there;
• to openly condemn Russia’s misstatements, disinformation, and actions regarding Estonia’s rights as a sovereign nation; and
• to reiterate, as a member of NATO, its commitment to protect Estonia in the event of any threat to its sovereignty.

1 May 2007 press conference (English-language translation received from Estonia)

The European Union is under attack, because Russia is attacking Estonia. The Bronze Soldier and the vandalism in Tallinn was Estonian domestic matter, but Russia’s coordinated actions against Estonia are a European Union problem. Thus, European Union-Russia relations have entered a very complicated situation.

The attacks are virtual, psychological and real.

Before the riots, representatives of the Russian Embassy met with the main organisers of the riots in Tallinn and other Estonian cities. The meetings took place in very strange locations such as the Tallinn Botanical Garden.

It has been established that cyber terrorist attacks against Estonian governmental institution websites and that of the President’s Office’s have been made from IP addresses of concrete computers and by concrete individuals from Russian government organs including the administration of the President of the Russian Federation.

The Russian State Duma delegation, which visited Estonia through the intermediation of the European Union’s Presidency, has demanded the resignation of the government and refuses to cooperate or enter into dialogue with Estonian officials. The visiting delegation only made demands and false allegations. This is interference in Estonian internal matters.

The youth organisation Nashi has surrounded the Estonian Embassy in Moscow, which also is the residence for all the employees. In essence, the employees are being held hostage. Today, Russian parliamentarians indicated that if
there was a desire on Russian side, the special police would be able to free the Embassy in three minutes - however, the special police have said that their orders are to ensure only the minimum of security. Today, the Estonian flag was torn from the Embassy building. These actions are all in breach of the Vienna Convention.

The direct links of hostile Russian youth organisations like Nashi and Molodaja Gvardija to the Kremlin are well known. Just as well known is the fact that each person holding Estonian Embassy in Moscow under siege is being paid 550-1000 roubles per day by the Kremlin.

Russian television channels, whose “freedom” is well known throughout the world, do not show clips of rioters in the streets, but rather of “innocent” citizens of Russian decent being “terrorised” by police officers. They also broadcast news of Estonian police killing detainees and that the Estonian Defence Forces have been given the command to shoot Russians. These are gross lies.

I affirm to you that we have sufficient material to prove our accusations.

This all clearly shows that the future of people of Russian descent in the Estonian Republic is only being used as a rhetorical pretext for “active measures” and our compatriots are being used for greater political gains.

On Thursday, I will make a proposal to the Estonian Government as to which measures Estonia believes that the European Union should apply to Russia. These measures have to influence Russia so that it ends the attacks and its interference in internal matters of Estonia as well force Russia to fulfil its obligations under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. The measures should affect EU-Russia relations in its entirety.

We believe it to be essential that the European Union react in full strength against the behaviour of Russia. This might result in the suspension or cancellation of negotiations between the European Union and Russia. The postponement of the European Union-Russia Summit must be seriously considered.

If the situation at the Estonian Embassy in Moscow has not normalised by nine o’clock tomorrow morning, Estonia will end all consular services except for consular assitance to Estonian citizens in its Moscow consulate. The services will be resumed once the situation has returned to normal. We will continue to monitor the security of our other representations in Russia.