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Estonia defies Russia over statue Estonia split over WWII memorial
(about 6 hours later)
The Estonian parliament has passed a law which prohibits the display of monuments glorifying the five decades of Soviet rule which ended in 1991. Estonia's president has refused to sign a controversial law that would pave the way for removing a Soviet war memorial.
The measure paves the way for the removal of a bronze statue of a wartime Soviet soldier - a rallying point for Estonia's ethnic Russian minority. Toomas Hendrik Ilves said some sections of the law were unconstitutional.
Russians form about one-third of the Baltic republic's population. Earlier on Thursday the Estonian parliament passed a bill obliging the government to remove the monument within a month.
Plans to remove the monument, in the capital Tallinn, have already provoked fierce criticism from Moscow. The "Bronze Soldier" has become a symbol of divisions in Estonian society. Ethnic Russians are firmly against the plan to remove it.
Ahead of the vote, the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister, Vladimir Titov, warned that approving the law would have irreversible consequences for relations with Estonia. Most of the country's large Russian-speaking minority regard the statue as an anti-fascist symbol, but for many ethnic Estonians it honours a regime which occupied the country for more than 50 years. Russians form about one-third of the Baltic republic's population.
Russian MPs have threatened to impose sanctions on Estonia if the war memorial is removed. President Ilves accused some MPs of "irresponsible behaviour"Mr Ilves accused some Estonian politicians of using the issue "merely to draw attention to themselves" ahead of the 4 March parliamentary election.
The brick and bronze monument commemorates Red Army soldiers who fought in World War II. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, quoted by the Interfax news agency, called the Estonian MPs' vote a "very big mistake and an act of blasphemy which is unacceptable in today's Europe".
Russia, and many ethnic Russians in Estonia, consider the monument commemorates those who died to liberate Estonia from the Nazis. The law would prohibit the display of monuments glorifying Soviet rule, which ended in 1991.
However, the Soviet Union had occupied Estonia before World War II, and annexed it again in 1945, so many Estonians regard the statue as a symbol of the country's occupation. Mr Lavrov's deputy Vladimir Titov warned that approving the law would have irreversible consequences for relations with Estonia.
After clashes between ethnic Russian and Estonian activists at the statue, the Estonian government said it wanted to move the monument - and the soldiers' remains thought to be buried beneath it - to a more suitable location.After clashes between ethnic Russian and Estonian activists at the statue, the Estonian government said it wanted to move the monument - and the soldiers' remains thought to be buried beneath it - to a more suitable location.
Prime Minister Andrus Ansip said the government would be able to order the monument's removal anyway, using a law on the protection of war graves which was passed in January, the BBC's Laura Sheeter reports from Tallinn.