EU to raise concerns to Russia at Estonia protests

BRUSSELS, May 2 (Reuters) The European Union will send a delegation to raise its concerns with Russia over protests around the Estonian embassy in Moscow in a growing row over a Soviet war memorial, an EU spokeswoman said today.

''We share the concerns about the increasing violence around the Estonian embassy in Moscow and we strongly urge the Russian authorities to implement their obligations under the Vienna Convention for diplomatic relations,'' the European Commission spokeswoman told a regular news briefing.

She said the EU planned a demarche, or a formal diplomatic representation, of senior officials to raise the bloc's concerns directly with Russian authorities.

Protesters in Moscow blocked the entrance to the Estonian embassy building today and broke into a hall where Estonia's ambassador in Moscow was to hold a news conference in a growing row over Estonia's decision to remove a Soviet war memorial from its site in the capital Tallinn.

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