The dispute over a Soviet monument in Tallinn

In the centre of Tallinn stands a bronze statue of a Soviet soldier. Prime Minister Andrus Ansip says this monument to the occupation of the country must go – but his plans have met with opposition, in particular from the Russian section of the population. Kalle Muuli advises the two sides to remain calm. "For 15 years now, the Russians in our now independent Estonia have laid their flowers before the bronze soldier every May 9, and although this is not a pleasant sight for most Estonians, it's not so unbearable that they can't put up with it for a couple of days each year for the sake of peaceful coexistence. Moreover, Estonians, too, have come to the statue to mourn, so why all the fuss?... For sure, the government should remove the statue from the Tonismägi, but this shouldn't be done under these circumstances, because then it would be perceived as provocation."

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