After Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, it was decided that it was no longer appropriate for Soviet-era symbols or monuments to be displayed in public space in Estonia, as they symbolize the time during which the country was under occupation. Some of the Soviet-era symbols in question were present on grave markers, and have since been replaced with neutral symbols in a process coordinated by the Estonian War Museum.

"160 grave markers have been replaced with neutral grave markers and 95 monuments that were not grave markers have either been removed or have had their respective insignia removed. A further 24 remain in the public space, and this is because they have not been removed due to not having the landowners' consent," said Hellar Lill, director of the Estonian War Museum.

Last spring, President of Estonia Alar Karis did not promulgate the proposed law on the removal of so-called "red monuments." The president justified the decision by saying that the proposed law was unconstitutional. Since then, the Estonian government has not made further progress toward amending the law.

"After the president failed to proclaim the law, the Riigikogu discussed the president's remarks on September 27 last year and decided not to support the adoption of the act in its unamended form," said Heddi Lutterus, deputy secretary general at the Estonian Ministry of Justice's legal policy department.

"Therefore, the bill ought to be amended in light of the president's remarks. The new amendments have not yet been discussed or approved by the government and the Riigikogu," Lutterus added.

From the police's perspective, the removal of Soviet-era monuments makes sense. "We can say that in the year and a half since most of the Soviet-era monuments were removed, things have improved, from a law enforcement point of view. We have had to deal less with ideologically-charged meetings and the public disorder that goes with them," said Indrek Püvi, head of the Narva police station.

"Obviously, we have less symbolism in the public space, and the removal of monuments plays a part in this. The monuments are one of the symbols of the aggressor, which also leads to people wanting to use forbidden symbols themselves,"  he added.

The Estonian War Museum has so far managed to re-bury the remains of nearly 2,000 people from war graves that have been excavated during the process of removing Soviet-era monuments. "In 2022, the remains of more than 800 people were recovered from 20 burial sites. Last year, there were 48 burial plots, from which over 1,100 remains were removed. We have continued doing this work this year and I believe we will also have work for another two years," said Hellar Lill, director of the Estonian War Museum.

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