Victory Day celebrations are “painful” for Estonians, and the St. George ribbon symbolizes “a provocative expression of superpower policy,” said Speaker of the Riigikogu (Estonian Parliament) Henn Põlluaas (Estonian Conservative People’s Party, EKRE). It is reported by the Estonian national-conservative publication Uued Uudised.
In addition, according to Põlluaas, the monument to the Liberator Warrior (“Bronze Soldier”) should have been removed from the center of Tallinn in the 1990s. The nationalist said that if at first “only peaceful veterans” gathered near the monument, then later it allegedly became a place of attraction for “young and aggressive Russians”. The speaker of parliament said the May 9 celebration is part of Russian history rewriting policy.
In 2007, according to the decision of the authorities, the Bronze Soldier was transferred from the center of Tallinn to a military cemetery. After dismantling on the night of April 27, 2007, mass protests took place in the capital and a number of other Estonian cities, Dmitry Ganin, a Russian citizen beaten by the police, was killed. The investigation of his murder is carried out by the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation.
According to the official position of the Baltic countries, after the liberation from Nazi occupation during the Second World War, the so-called Soviet occupation followed. Moscow categorically disagrees with this assessment of historical events.