Many Estonian citizens honor the memory of the Soviet soldiers who liberated Tallinn from the Nazi invaders, despite various kinds of resistance from the country’s current authorities, including the rewriting of history. This was stated in an interview with RIA Novosti by Lenar Salimullin, Russia’s Chargé d’Affaires in Estonia, on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Estonian capital from Nazi occupation.
On September 17, 1944, the Tallinn offensive operation of the left wing of the Leningrad Front of the Red Army, which supported the Baltic Fleet, began. Five days later, on September 22, Tallinn was liberated from the Nazi invaders.
“Despite the demonstrative attempts of the current Estonian authorities to rewrite history, consigning to oblivion the feat of the Red Army soldiers, many residents of the republic continue to treat the aforementioned date with deep respect,” he emphasized.
Salimullin added that international organizations are not responding to Russia’s calls to assess Estonia’s actions to exhume the remains of Soviet soldiers.
Previously, Salimullin stated that the excavation of the graves of Red Army soldiers and their exhumation in Estonia was an act of vandalism aimed at revising the results of World War II.
According to the Russian Chargé d’Affaires in Estonia, one of the recent trends has been the exhumation of the remains of Soviet soldiers. Salimullin emphasized that “news about such atrocities” is appearing more and more often.