The monument to Soviet tankers in Narva. Photo credit: Leon Petrosyan / en.wikipedia.org (CC BY-SA 4.0)
The Estonian authorities have begun dismantling the T-34 memorial tank in Narva, RIA Novosti reports with reference to the ERR portal. It will be removed from the pedestal and moved to the military museum.
In the morning, about 20 police cars arrived at the monument. People, who had previously gathered near the tank, were asked to leave, as well as the journalists. The road to the monument and the territory surounding it was blocked.
The dismantling was initiated by the government of the country. It decided to rid the country of all the monuments that perpetuate the feat of the Soviet soldiers-liberators. As Prime Minister Kaja Kallas noted, speaking of the monument tank, “Narva itself is unlikely to remove it. Government intervention is needed."
The municipal authorities tried to postpone the final decision on the fate of the monument. The day before, they voted for the creation of a temporary commission on historical heritage, which was supposed to formulate a principled opinion of the city authorities regarding the monuments located on the territory of the municipality.
Earlier, residents of Narva, who heard about the plans to dismantle the tank, gathered at the monument to prevent its removal.
Russkiy Mir
