Russia warns Estonia row risks harming EU relations

By Staff
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TALLINN, May 11 (Reuters) Russia has said that a dispute with neighbour Estonia over the removal of a World War Two monument risks damaging its relations with the European Union and NATO.

Estonia today removed a barrier at the original site of the monument, a 2-metre (6-1/2 ft) bronze statue of a Red Army soldier, after World War Two commemorations passed off peacefully this week.

The removal of the statue two weeks ago from a central Tallinn square sparked riots by local Russian-speakers and fury from Moscow.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in a strongly- worded letter, sent in early May but which has just become public, that events in Estonia caused anger in all parts of Russian society.

He said this could ''affect our relations with the European Union and NATO in a most serious way''. Baltic diplomats said Germany, current EU president, was preparing a reply.

Estonia, formerly part of the Soviet Union, is a member of both NATO and the EU. Russia has adopted an increasingly assertive tone towards its former Soviet neighbours.

The Estonian dispute has added to tensions between the European Union and Russia over Moscow's ban on Polish meat imports ahead of a summit on May 18 in Samara.

The Tallinn square where the monument stood, since planted over with yellow and blue flowers, has been surrounded by a large metal fence since April 26. This has now been removed.

''The fence has gone and the area is open to every one,''said Defence Ministry spokesman Madis Mikko.

The easing of security follows the peaceful commemoration by Russian-speakers of the end of World War Two on May 9.

Thousands of people left flowers at the military cemetery just outside the centre of the capital, Tallinn, which is the new home for the bronze soldier.

However, relations with Russia remained strained.

The Baltic state fears Moscow is using the dispute to impose a range of trade curbs. It has also complained that Estonian Web sites are under constant attack from Russian servers.

Russian officials said yesterday they were imposing a weight restriction on a road bridge to northeast Estonia used by hundreds of trucks a day, although Baltic news agency BNS quoted customs and border guards as saying traffic was normal.

Estonian officials have also accused staff at the Russian embassy in Tallinn of helping foment unrest among Russian-speakers, who number some 300,000 in the country of around 1.3 million people.

Estonian Economy Minister Juhan Parts told Reuters that measures being taken by Russia had affected the transit sector, by which goods are shipped across Estonia from its neighbour.

''If this will continue it will become an EU-Russia trade issue,'' he added.

REUTERS AK KP2052

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