While the large-scale removal of monuments, statues and other relics of the Soviet era in Estonia took on a new pace following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the issue of war graves and how to handle human remains was an added consideration, while responsibility for dealing with installations which did not have any grave sites nearby – the Narva tank being one of the most prominent examples of this – was handed to local government rather than the state.

The legislation thus set out to address these issues, but in March last year, President Alar Karis declined to promulgate the accompanying legislation, on the grounds of it running counter to the Constitution.

In this case, legislation is returned to the Riigikogu and can be amended and voted upon again (or subject to a second vote but without any amendments).

Speaking to the ETV news show "Aktuaalne kaamera" (AK) Thursday, the prime minister said: "We have to move forward with this legislation, since it was accepted in the Riigikogu, but was returned. We have an agreement within the coalition that it must be amended, so we must move it forward."

A year ago, the prime minister's party was in office with the Social Democrats (SDE) and Isamaa. From April and following the March 2023 general election, Isamaa was switched out in favor of Eesti 200.

The prime minister said that the project, which took on a new significance following the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine nearly two years ago, is being done gradually and in stages, with sites mapped, and the war graves committee ascertaining if sites marked as cemeteries indeed contain human remains.

If so, these remains will be re-interred.

"It all takes time and we are moving forward gradually. Some monuments are also located on private land, which we do not have direct access to," the head of government added.

The head of state last March declined to give his assent to amendments to the Building Code (Ehitusseadustik), the law on the implementation of the building code and planning code (ehitusseadustiku ja planeerimisseaduse rakendamise seadus), and the law amending the state property law (Riigivaraseaduse muutmise seadus)

The president said at the time that: "Section 1(1) of the adopted law is legally unclear, and therefore contradicts Section 13(2) of the Constitution."

Section 1 subsection 1 of the law as passed by the Riigikogu states: "The publicly visible part of a building, as well as a publicly displayed monument, sculpture, memorial and other such facilities, must not incite hatred, or support or justify the activities of an occupation regime, or an act of aggression, genocide, crime against humanity or a war crime."

The president argued that, as set out in the legislation's explanatory memorandum, its goal was to remove from the public space, or bar from being put in place in that space, any objects that violate society's sense of justice, or which could be seen as posing a threat to Estonia's security.

"This is a legitimate goal, but the prohibited facilities are defined in the law using expressions that cannot be given an unambiguous meaning, even within conventional methods of interpretation." President Karis said at the time.

The law would also include monuments and installations glorifying other regimes, such as the Tsarist rule over Estonia, or the Nazi occupation of World War Two.

Dissident Russian outlet Mediazona revealed Tuesday that the Estonian prime minister had been included on a Russian interior ministry "wanted list."

While it is not clear why Kallas was added to the list, which includes among others close to 70 Latvian MPs and 16 council deputies in the Lithuanian port city of Klaipeda, though this may relate to the project to remove extant Soviet-era monuments over the past two years.

Estonian State Secretary, the head of the government office, Taimar Peterkop, was also listed from Estonia.

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