Today 10 April, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Estonia delivered a démarche to the chargé d’affaires of Russia in connection with the baseless allegations of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Russian Embassy in Estonia about damage to tombstones and the alleged removal of grave monuments in the Defence Forces Cemetery of Tallinn.
The Estonian Foreign Ministry emphasised that Russia’s complaint claiming that Estonia had insufficiently investigated the damage to the tombstones of Soviet soldiers in the Defence Forces Cemetery of Tallinn was baseless.
In cooperation with the Estonian War Museum, two experts from the Estonian Heritage Board and the University of Tartu were consulted on the damage to the tombstones. Both experts concluded that it was algae, which spreads mainly on porous substrates, including limestone, from which these tombstones were made. We added that this type of algae also grew on other tombstones in the same cemetery, as well as in the nearby Siselinna Cemetery. These conclusions were forwarded to the Russian Embassy by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs last week.
In addition, we refuted the claim that two grave monuments were removed from the Defence Forces Cemetery in early April. As the Estonian War Museum affirmed there were no graves under either monument, they did not constitute grave monuments, and instead, they were monuments to the Soviet occupation, which have no place in our cultural space. Estonia honours the sanctity of grave sites and respects all who lost their lives.
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