The gathering took place on Pikk tänav opposite the Russian Embassy in Tallinn's Old Town. The group held placards and a blue and white flag.

Mikhail Tamm, who moved to Estonia from Moscow six months ago, told ERR News this is not the first protest Russians living in Estonia have held.

"We've come here, sometimes more or less people, every day for the last month protesting the ongoing war in Ukraine, the atrocities of the Russian forces. Most of us who come here, we are Russian citizens and we cannot accept that this sort of thing is being done in our name," the Tallinn University physicist said.

Tamm said approximately 40 people attended a similar protest the night before and laid flowers and lit candles outside the embassy. Protests take place throughout the week and bigger events most weekends, he said.

"The main idea is that these atrocities should stop," he explained.

Asked if people who attend the protest are usually Russians living in Estonia, Tamm said its a mixture of long-term citizens and new arrivals: "There are quite a lot of people who fled Russia in the last weeks who face persecution in Russia, [and] those who just couldn't stand what is going on and left."

Speaking about the blue and white flag, Tamm said it has become the symbol Russians against the war are rallying around. The design is the Russian flag without the red stripe — "without the blood". It is also the flag of Veliky Novgorod, a town known as the "cradle of Russian democracy", website Meduza wrote.

While the Russians were protesting outside the embassy on Sunday, groups of volunteers made camouflage nets to send to Ukraine outside the handicraft (Käsitöö) shops close by.

Russia launched a war on Ukraine on February 24, which is being supported by Belarus. Belarusians in Estonia have also protested against the war.

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