Estonia removes Soviet-era monument of tank

(16 Aug 2022)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Narva, Estonia - 16 August 2022
1. Various of T-34 tank monument being removed from plinth
2. Various of truck with the tank driving away
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Viimsi, Estonia – 16 August 2022
3. Various of the truck with the tank arriving at the Estonian War Museum
4. Various of workers removing the chains from the tank
5. SOUNDBITE: (Russian) Daniel Kurakin, Tallinn resident:
"This tank symbolizes the occupation of our country. Russia is doing the same things in Ukraine that the Soviet Union was doing in 1940 and 1944. That's why these monuments (Soviet) and this tank in particular raise very painful associations with Estonian society."
6. Various of Estonian military engineer fixing ropes to the tank
7. Various of the tank being lifted off truck
8. Soviet symbol on tank
9. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Kirill Smirnov, Narva resident:
"Not everyone in Narva supported the idea of keeping the tank at its place. There was a thought to make a special sign so that it doesn't associate with occupation for many people, but becomes a museum object at its place (in Narva). It was another possible decision. Narva's authorities were fighting for it. But it didn't work out, unfortunately."
10. Tank being lowered with crane to ground
11. Engineer removing strops
12. Tank outside the museum
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Indrak Magi, Tallinn resident:
"It (tank) presents Putin's regime, that's why it's good (the decision to remove tank from Narva) and it (tank) needs to be removed."
14. Museum's interior
15. Man taking picture of the tank
STORYLINE:
Estonia's government started removing a Soviet World War II monument Tuesday from near a city on the Russian border as part of a wider effort, prompted by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, to dismantle remaining Soviet-era symbols.
Crews removed a replica of a T-34 tank that sat atop the monument outside the city of Narva in Estonia's Russian-speaking east.
They placed it on a truck that took it to the Estonian War Museum in Viimsi, a town north of the capital, Tallinn.
The monument commemorates the Soviet soldiers who died fighting Nazi Germany during World War II.
Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said a neutral grave marker would replace the tank replica and the memorial outside Narva would "remain a dignified site for commemorating the dead."
Estonia, which shares a nearly 300-kilometer (180-mile) border with Russia, has taken a hard-line stance against Russia's invasion of Ukraine.  
The prime minister said that removing symbols like the tank was necessary to protect public order and to prevent Moscow from sowing discord in Estonia, a country with a significant ethnic Russian minority.
Like its Baltic neighbors, Estonia has removed many monuments glorifying the Soviet Union or communist leaders since the country regained independence in 1991.
After the city council in Narva decided the replica tank should go, a crowd gathered around the monument to protest the plan.
A total of seven Soviet-era monuments in Narva are slated for removal, the government said Tuesday.
The city, whose 57,500 inhabitants are chiefly Russian speakers, is about 210 kilometers (130 miles) east of Tallinn and separated from the Russian town of Ivangorod by the Narva river.
Russian officials have criticized Estonia's drive to remove remaining Soviet-era monuments.
Earlier this month, Estonia decided to bar people from neighboring Russia with tourist visas from entering the northernmost Baltic country as a consequence of the war in Ukraine.
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