By Country / Russia
Russian Deputy Premier Calls For Estonia Boycott
April 03, 2007
Sergei Ivanov (file photo) (NATO)
Ivanov said they should do this to protest what he called "vandalism" against Soviet-era military monuments.
Plans to remove a monument to Soviet soldiers from the center of the Estonian capital, Tallinn, has angered Russia. Estonia says the monument is a reminder of what many Estonians view as Soviet occupation.
Russia argues that removing the memorial would desecrate the memory of the soldiers who died while driving Nazi German troops out of Estonia during World War II.
First Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Denisov, however, later said Russia was not planning any measures against Estonia. He called Ivanov's comments "emotional."
(compiled from agency reports)