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Russia lodges protest about Estonia’s plans to rebury Soviet servicemen — Foreign Ministry

"This act will certainly get a response," Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova emphasized

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova Russian Foreign Ministry Press Office/TASS

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova

© Russian Foreign Ministry Press Office/TASS

MOSCOW, February 2. /TASS/. The Russian Foreign Ministry summoned the Estonian Charge d'Affaires to Russia Jana Vanamelder to lodge a formal protest about Estonia's plans to rebury the remains of Soviet servicemen at the Tallinn Military Cemetery without obtaining the consent of their living relatives and descendants, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a commentary.

"On February 2, the Estonian Charge d'Affaires to Russia Vanamelder was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry. We expressed our strong protest against the plans of the Estonian authorities to 'rebury' the remains of Soviet servicemen in the Tallinn Military Cemetery without the consent of their relatives," the diplomat pointed out.

"We noted that such blasphemous actions go against generally accepted international practice and simple human decency, a sense of which Tallinn lost long ago already. This act will certainly get a response," Zakharova emphasized.

Earlier, the Russian Embassy in Estonia published information about the Baltic state's intention to desecrate the burial sites of Red Army soldiers at the Tallinn Military Cemetery. It noted that the Estonian Military Museum plans to dismantle tombstones allegedly in order to then reinter the Soviet servicemen’s remains. The embassy noted that these actions by Tallinn were being taken without any media coverage and called them an act of rank vandalism by the Estonian authorities.

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Foreign policy Estonia Maria Zakharova

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