New Delhi: Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas has been placed on a “wanted list” by Russia for the destruction of monuments dedicated to Soviet soldiers in Estonia, the Russian ministry of foreign affairs said Tuesday.
“The Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs has put Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas and Estonian Secretary of State Taimar Peterkop on the wanted list for destroying monuments to Soviet soldiers,” said Maria Zakharova, spokesperson of the Russian foreign ministry on her personal Telegram channel.
Zakharova added, “The liberators of the world from Nazism and fascism must answer for crimes against memory! And this is just the beginning.”
Dmitry Peskov, the spokesperson for Russian President Vladimir Putin, told the media Tuesday, “These people are responsible for decisions that are actually tantamount to desecration of historical memory.”
Law enforcement officials told Russian news agency TASS that criminal proceedings have been initiated against officials from the Baltic countries for pulling down the monuments.
Kallas, who has led Estonia since 2021, has been one of the most vocal international leaders in support of Ukraine in its war against Russia. On X, Kallas said that after her name appeared on the Russian wanted list, “Russia’s move is nothing surprising. This is yet more proof that I am doing the right thing – the #EU‘s strong support to #Ukraine is a success and it hurts Russia.”
Kallas further said her mother and grandmother were “deported” to Siberia on the orders of the KGB, the foreign and domestic security agency of the former USSR.
Kallas’ news was leaked Tuesday by Mediazona, a Russian independent news outlet, which collected and collated the entire wanted database of Russia’s ministry of internal affairs. A total of 96,752 individuals were sought by the Russian ministry of internal affairs in criminal cases.
ThePrint accessed the database published by Mediazona and can confirm the findings of the number of Latvian parliamentarians, Estonian leadership and individuals from other countries wanted in Russia.
Indians and foreigners on the list
ThePrint found at least 91 Indians on Russia’s “wanted” database. The reasons were not mentioned, but in some cases, the ministry also announced a notice of withdrawal of a case against an Indian individual.
Of the 91 Indians on the list, five were women and 86 men. Apart from the Indians on the list, individuals from other countries wanted by the Russian government included those for political reasons.
Piotr Hofmański, the Polish jurist and president of the International Criminal Court (ICC), was also on the list. In March 2023, Hofmański and the ICC issued arrest warrants against Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, the commissioner for children’s rights, for the deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia.
Similarly, Andy Stone, the press secretary of Meta, is sought by the police for charges of aiding terrorism, according to Mediazona. The three Lithuanian judges, who, in 2019 ruled against Soviet officers in the brutal crackdown on Vilnius Television (TV) Tower in January 1991, were all wanted for “unjust” guilty verdicts handed to the officers.
On 13 January 1991, Soviet forces attacked the Vilnius TV Tower to crack down on pro-independence protestors in an attempt to prevent Lithuanian independence. Fourteen protesters lost their lives, including a young woman who was crushed by a tank.
Warrants have been issued against at least 176 Ukrainians for reasons that include participating in the war, public statements or connected to the Ukrainian authorities, according to Mediazona.
Fifty-nine of the 68 Latvian parliamentarians who voted for the termination of an agreement with Russia to protect Soviet memorials in the country found themselves on the wanted list, while various Latvian government officials including a former interior minister and two serving ministers were also wanted by Russian authorities, as reported by Mediazona.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)
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