...... annual russkie "lootathon"
in Estonia?
The event will even, it seems, have
its own patron saint - Dmitry Ganin!
(Heroic defender of his looted
vodka bottle).
In the immortal words of Evaldas:
"Enjoy".
Best - - Henry
For educational purposes only:
From: Kommersant
By: Maxim Lensky, Nikolai Filchenko
Tallinn: A Year without the Bronze Soldier
The anniversary of the fall of the Soviet liberator
In Tallinn, they are marking the year's anniversary of the
events after the authorities' decision to remove the monument
to the Soviet liberating soldier in the center of the city led
to rioting in the Estonian capital. This weekend, Russian
nongovernmental organizations plan to hold meetings to
protest violations of the rights of the Russian-speaking
population of Estonia. Law enforcement is also planning
for a wild weekend. Forces are being beefed up in Tallinn,
Narva, Parnu and Tartu. The authorities say they will not
allow the disorder of a year ago to be repeated. It was one
of the reasons for the crisis that still has a grip on
the country.
Weekend of Unrest
They are preparing for every manner of disruption this
weekend in Tallinn. Public organizations uniting the
Russian-speaking citizens of Estonia plan to remember the
events of a year ago on Saturday and Sunday and hold a
protest meeting against the removal of the bronze soldier from
Tonismagi Square in downtown Tallinn to the city's military
cemetery. The main inspiration for the memorial activities
comes from the Night Watch organization, which ardently
defended the Bronze Soldier a year ago. An announcement
has been posted on the organization's site urging all
who wish to to join the Might Watch meeting on April 26
near the Russian Cultural Center. ""A meeting will be held
to give people a chance to express themselves on the anniversary
of barbarous destruction by the authorities of the monument
on Tonismagi, to discuss the condition of our society and to
make certain demands of the Estonian government,"" the
organizers write.
On April 26, 2007, events took place in Tallinn that were
later dubbed the ""bronze night."" After Estonian authorities
decided to disassemble the Bronze Soldier and move it to
the Estonian capital's military cemetery, protests began in
the city that culminated on the night of April 27 in rioting
and looting in downtown Tallinn that continued for several
days. Then the police cracked down decisively on the protests.
More than 2000 people were detained, more than 200 arrested,
and about 50 were sentenced to various sentences, most of
which were then suspended. At the time of the unrest, Russian
citizen Dmitry Ganin was killed under circumstances that
have never
been explained. In May of last year, speaker of the Federation
Council Sergey Mironov wrote a letter to Moscow Mayor
Yury Luzhkov stating that it was necessary to see to ""the
preservation of the memory of Dmitry Ganin, who died
defending the monument to the Liberating Soldier in
Tallinn."" Mironov suggested immortalizing the name of
the deceased Russian by renaming Maly Kislovsky Lane in
Moscow in his honor. The Estonian embassy is located on
that street. Moscow authorities ignored the proposal.
The anniversary of ""bronze night"" will be marked on
April 26 and 27 in several places in Tallinn at once. The
military cemetery where the statue was moved to will be
one of the main places for memorial events. Up to 10,000
people are expected to visit it tomorrow and the next
day. Demonstrators will also gather at Terminal D at the
Port of Tallinn, where police held their detainees during
last year's disorder. ""Most of all, we want to help the
Estonian government realize the mistake it made a year
ago. They insulted the Russian population then. They took
away a monument, dug up human remains and took it all
to another place at night,"" one of the organizers, Dmitry
Zarenkov, secretary of the Antifascist Committee of Estonia,
told Kommersant. Although the public organizations say
that the observations will be of an exclusively peaceful
character, the police are preparing for the worst. In Tallinn,
Narva, Parnu and Tartu, extra forces have been added. The
beefed up units will be on duty at the meeting places all
weekend. ""We are prepared for the event that some people
may allow themselves to be drawn into problems, without
even knowing it,"" Commissioner Kristian Jaani of the Pohjan
police prefecture told the press. ""It is very important that
the organizers of public gatherings realize their responsibility
and were aware of the possible consequences of their actions.""
A Difficult Year
Estonian authorities are trying to be cold-blooded as the
anniversary approaches. ""Estonia din[t lose anything from
"bronze night."" On the contrary, the air is cleaner and the
feelings of government are greater than a year ago,"" stated
Estonian Prime Minister Andrus Ansip, chief initiator of the
moving of the Bronze Soldier, recently.
Not everyone in Estonia agrees. Ansip is more and more
often accused of causing losses to the country because of that
step. The events of that night badly spoiled relations between
Tallinn and Moscow. Russia responded to the disassembly
of the Bronze Soldier with economic sanctions. They were
not as ostentatiously as with Georgia, but they struck at the
Estonian budget nonetheless. The greatest damage was
caused by the rerouting of Russian transit from Estonia
through Latvia and Finland. Just a few months after the events
in Tallinn, Eesti Raudtee, the Estonian railroad company,
stated that the cargo flow from Russia had been severely
reduced. By the middle of last year, Russian transit through
Estonia had been reduced by 40 percent.
Authoritative Estonian economist Rein Taagepera said that
the government has done nothing to pull Estonia out of the
crisis that ""bronze night"" provoked. ""A year after the scandalous
incident with the moving of bronze Alyosha' the government
counted its losses: 450 million, or 3 percent of the GDP. The
Port of Tallinn especially feels its losses. It lost 13 percent of its
transit turnover,"" the Estonian Business News newspaper scolds.
They also remind Ansip of the reductions in Russian imports of
Estonian goods. A year ago, several large Russian retail
chains showed their political conscience and refused all Estonian
goods of their own accord. That boycott did not last long, but
Estonian producers say that turnover has not returned to pre-crisis
levels.
A god number of Russian-speaking citizens have been the
victims of the battle for historical justice. The tacit economic
boycott and reduction of transit flows have struck at sectors of the
economy where 80-90 percent of the worker are Russian.
""Many firms have closed, gone bankrupt or been forced to make
layoffs. Some sectors of transit have simply disappeared, the
transit of coal, for example,"" says Spacecom transportation
company owner Oleg Osinovsky. ""It is hard to say what the
volume is, but many people have been left without work. Our
enterprise laid off 100 workers this month, and next month
those people will be on the labor market."" According to the
Estonian labor department, unemployment has increased by 20.5
percent this year, with the greatest growth, 51.8 percent, in Tallinn.
Estonian labor unions are serious considering declaring a
general strike. The railroad union, which has suffered more
than any other from the Russian transit war, is the most active
supporter of the move. Its leader, Oleg Chubarov, told
Kommersant that he has studied the experience of
the Union of Free Unions of Latvia, which forced the
government of prime minister Aigars Kalvitis out of office
last autumn. Now the new government of Ivars Godmanis
has to reckon with them. A similar scenario is looking ever
more likely for Estonia.
Maxim Lensky, Nikolai Filchenko
Original at:
http://www.kommersant.com/p886482/r_530/foreign_relations/
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