The Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs puts politicians from the Baltic countries and Poland on the wanted list

Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia announced wanted by politicians and officials in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland for the destruction and damage of monuments to Soviet soldiers.

Former heads of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Estonia Elmar Vaher and Urmas Reinsalu have been put on the wanted list. In addition to them, four Lithuanian politicians, two Polish and one Latvian were included in the wanted list of the Russian police. clarifies “Kommersant”.

In September 2023, the Investigative Committee of Russia excited 16 criminal cases on 143 facts of destruction or damage to military graves, monuments and memorials to Soviet soldiers in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine. Investigators accuse 170 foreign citizens of this in absentia.

After the start of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, the dismantling of Soviet monuments intensified in the Baltic countries, Poland and Ukraine. Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, for example, explained that the invasion of Ukraine “opened the wounds of Estonian society, of which communist monuments serve as a reminder.” For many Estonians, Soviet monuments are symbols of half a century of oppression by Moscow, when the country was occupied by the USSR.