EU, NATO should reflect on fact that Estonia prefers SS to Red Army

The Russian Foreign Ministry has greeted coolly news that Estonia officially prefers the SS to the Red Army. The fact that Estonia is preparing to dismantle a memorial in the Liaene-Viru region to the Red Army commander of the Estonian Infantry Corps, Lieutenant-General Lembit Piarnu, and to place in the same region a memorial marker to SS Colonel Alfons Rebane, should, in the ministry's view, 'cause the EU and NATO to reflect.'

The Foreign Ministry statement read: 'Questions of historical memory are first of all questions by the people of this or that nation, although there have been events and periods in history which have international significance and deserve the recognition of all humanity. In this category we place those who fought fascism and triumphed over it in a bitter struggle during the years of the Second World War. As concerns those who served in the SS, not to mention commanded in it, for that there is the famous verdict of the Nuremberg Trial. Unfortunately, these two events do not add anything new to our estimation of what is going on in Estonia. We consider, however, that they should give added cause for reflection among this nation's partners in the EU and NATO.' The Estonian section of the Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry could not add anything to the official statement.