Controversy Over May Celebration Concert in Tallinn
Tallinn’s city public relations service sent out an invitation in Russian, welcoming people to a free concert at the Russian Cultural Center on Friday, dedicated to the "anniversary of victory" in World War II, while no Estonian press release was issued.
The invitation features Soviet symbols and the invitation to the May 9 concert also has the ribbon of St. George, which symbolizes military valor in Russia and is currently associated with the separatist pro-Russian movement in Ukraine.
The invitation features a program of “songs of our victory”, with the word “our” highlighted in red, ETV reported on Monday.
Ain Saarna, head of public relations at the city government, said that a poster with these symbols was not a wise move.
“The press release of the Russian Cultural Center was sent to Raepress, which forwarded it to the wider media without giving it much thought. I do not think it is the most successful and considered act, at least, this information could have been communicated more briefly and with a greater focus on the cultural event,” Saarna said.
“But yes, there were some illustrations that did not fall on the friendliest of grounds due to the differences in historical memories and cultural space. We definitely will not execute the editor but obviously the incident was a lesson for us,” he said.