# EODE - Zone Russia-Caucasus / ESTONIA: THE DEFENSE MINISTER HAS SYMPATHY FOR THE SS KILLERS / With RT / 09.04.2013 / Russia called the statement “another attempt to put on one scale the Soviet Union that has made a decisive contribution into ridding Europe of the ‘brown plague’, and Nazi Germany.” Russian diplomats also noted that the Estonian minister chose not to remind the public about such outrageous crimes as the total destruction by the Nazis of the two ethnic groups that resided in Estonia before the war – the Jews and the Roma (Gypsies) – as well as the fact that the genocide was committed largely by Estonian collaborators. In addition, the Russian side pointed out that over the past 20 years the Estonian authorities have not even once shown due respect to the veterans of the Estonian Rifle Corps of the Red Army. At the same time, the veterans who once donned the uniforms of the Waffen SS and other of Hitler’s formations are greeted by Estonia’s state officials and receive decorations and awards. “Therefore, such activities cannot be appraised in any other way but as a premeditated planting of pro-Nazi sentiments in the society,” the Russian note reads.
Posted on: Tue, 09 Jul 2013 13:55:57 +0000