NATO urges Russia to stop threatening Estonian embassy staff

Nato today called on Russia to stop threats against Estonian embassy staff in Moscow and to resolve its dispute with the Baltic state stemming from the removal of a Soviet war memorial.

“Nato is deeply concerned by threats to the physical safety of Estonian diplomatic staff, including the Ambassador, in Moscow,” the alliance said in a statement issued in Brussels.

“These actions are unacceptable, and must be stopped immediately.”

The alliance called on Moscow to defuse tension over the Soviet war memorial and graves in Estonia “diplomatically”.

Yesterday pro-Kremlin youth activists in Moscow staged an aggressive protest against Estonia’s ambassador over the removal of the Second World War memorial from central Tallinn, the Estonian capital.

The dispute comes at a time of already testy relations between Russia and its West European neighbours.

Russians regard the Talinn memorial a tribute to Soviet sacrifices in fighting Nazi Germany. For many Estonians it is a bitter reminder of decades of post-war Soviet occupation.

Serious rioting, mostly by Estonia’s ethnic Russian minority, broke out last week over removal of the statue from a square in the centre of the capital to a military cemetery.