Russia issued a search and arrest order on its territory against Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas and high-ranking officials and deputies from that country and also from Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.
Commenting on the situation during a press conference this Tuesday (13), Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov accused the Baltic countries of “hostile actions against the historical memory” of Russia.
According to the digital newspaper “Mediazona”, which had access to the Russian Interior Ministry database, the reason for the action would be the removal, in August 2022, of the Soviet T-34 tank from the city of Narva, on the border with Russia. , along with the removal of other Soviet monuments.
Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas Kallas is 46 years old and is among the strongest voices within the European Union (EU) and NATO in favor of supplying weapons to Ukraine and tightening sanctions against Russia.
In January 2021, Kallas also became the first woman to head the Baltic country's government, a position she renewed when her party won legislative elections in March last year. In addition to her, the Estonian Secretary of State, Taimar Peterkop, became the target of a search and capture order in Russia.
Another name cited by the newspaper “Medizona” is that of the Minister of Culture of Lithuania, Simonas Kairys, in addition to 59 of the 68 deputies of the Latvian Parliament for voting in favor of denouncing the treaty with Russia for the conservation of monuments.
The dismantling of a Soviet monument in the capital Riga also saw 15 deputies and Latvia's former ministers of interior, finance, justice and agriculture join the list.
Among the Polish leaders ordered to search and capture are the mayor of the city of Walbrzych, Roman Szelemej, and the president of the Institute of National Remembrance, Karol Navrotsky, according to information from “Medizona”.
What the Russian Foreign Ministry says
“For the crimes against the memory of those who freed the world from Nazism and fascism, we must respond! This is just the beginning!”, highlighted Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on her Telegram channel.
Since the fall of the Soviet Union (1991), this issue has confronted the Kremlin and the Baltic countries who, in many cases, do not see the Red Army as a liberator, but as an occupying force that has imposed communist rule on their countries since the Second World War.
Russian President Vladimir Putin recently assured that his country has no plans to invade the three Baltic republics or Poland, which are members of NATO.
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