European Parliament resolution of 24 May 2007 on Estonia
Date: 2007-05-24
Institutions: European Parliament
Subjects: Estonia, Russia, diplomatic relations, interference, international agreement, rule of law

24.4.2008

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Thursday 24 May 2007

76.
Strongly supports continuing initiatives by the political establishments on both sides and at all levels,
and urges them to give priority to the needs of the people of Kashmir, both materially and institutionally, so
that their political, economic, social and cultural disadvantages can be redressed; recommends that the EU
be available to respond to requests from either government;

Recognises the outstanding work being undertaken by the Commission's delegations in Islamabad

77.
and New Delhi;

78.
Notes that natural disasters sometimes create the political conditions for peacemaking; that nature
knows no borders and that it is only by Pakistan and India taking sustainable action together that they can
offer the people of Kashmir any hope of rebuilding a future;

*

*

*

Instructs its President

79.
the Commission and the
governments and parliaments of the Member States, to the Governments of the Republic of India and
of
Indian and
Pakistani-administered Jammu and Kashmir, and the People's Republic of China, and to the United Nations.

the competent authorities or governments of

to forward this resolution to the Council,

the Islamic Republic of Pakistan,

P6_TA(2007)0215

Estonia

European Parliament resolution of 24 May 2007 on Estonia

The European Parliament,

— having regard to the EU Presidency Statement of 2 May 2007 on the situation in front of the Estonian

embassy in Moscow,

— having regard to the statement made by its President Hans-Gert Pöttering and the debate in plenary on

the situation in Estonia on 9 May 2007,

— having regard to the numerous statements of support for Estonia by the Council, the Commission and

governments of the Member States,

— having regard to Rule 103(4) of its Rules of Procedure,

A. whereas, in the capital of Estonia and in parts of north-east Estonia, between 26 and 28 April 2007,
demonstrators protesting against the Estonian Government's decision to relocate the Soviet ‘monument
to the liberators of Tallinn’ from the centre of the Estonian capital to the Cemetery of the Estonian
Defence Forces a few kilometres away were responsible for two nights of violence, which started with
demonstrators attacking the police and resulted in widespread vandalism in the centre of Tallinn,

B. whereas police were seen using force only in extreme situations, and the Estonian Chancellor of Justice

has not identified any mismanagement of the actions of the police,

C. whereas the Government of Estonia explained in advance the reasons for its decision to the Govern-
ment of the Russian Federation, offering to cooperate with them during the relocation of the monu-
ment and encouraging Russian representatives to attend the exhumations of the remains, which the
Russian authorities refused to do,

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D. whereas the exhumations were conducted strictly in accordance with international standards and norms
of dignified conduct and whereas the monument has been reopened in the military cemetery with an
official ceremony and participation by anti-Hitler coalition representatives,

E. whereas the violent demonstrations and attacks on law and order were carried out with the active

organisation and cooperation of forces located outside Estonia,

F. whereas several high-level declarations have been made in Russia, including an official statement by the
State Duma delegation on its visit to Tallinn, calling on the Estonian Government to step down,

G. whereas the Estonian Prime Minister Andrus Ansip has declared that these events constitute a well-

coordinated and flagrant intervention into the internal affairs of Estonia,

H. whereas immediately after the riots in Tallinn the normal functioning of the Estonian embassy in
Moscow was blocked for seven days by hostile demonstrators from the Russian pro-government
youth organisation ‘Nashi’, which resulted in physical attacks on the Estonian and Swedish Ambassa-
dors, threats to demolish the embassy building, the tearing down of the Estonian flag situated on
embassy territory, and the labelling of Estonia a ‘fascist’ country,

I. whereas systematic cyber attacks have been organised, mostly from outside Estonia, in an attempt to
block official communication lines and Estonian administration websites; whereas those attacks have
come from Russian administration IP addresses, and whereas intensive propaganda attacks have con-
tinued via the Internet and mobile telephone messages calling for armed resistance and further violence,

J. whereas only a few days after the events in Tallinn, wide-scale restrictions on Estonian exports to Russia
were introduced, with Russian companies suspending contracts with Estonian firms, Estonia's energy
supplies being threatened and the Estonia-St. Petersburg train connection being suspended with effect
from the end of June 2007,

K. whereas the Russian authorities, including the State Duma delegation, have unfortunately refused to
enter into dialogue with the Estonian authorities and declined even to participate in a joint press con-
ference at the Foreign Ministry,

L. whereas Metropolitan Cornelius of the Estonian Orthodox Church of Moscow Patriarchate has stated
that there are no grounds for intercommunal conflict and that he sees no reason to present the riots as
a conflict between Estonian-language and Russian-language communities,

M. whereas the events were further fuelled by misinformation issued by Russian media channels, provoking

further protests,

N. whereas only a tiny part of the ethnic Russian population participated in the demonstrations and
looting, the considerable number of policemen of Russian background performed their duty with excel-
lence, and the great majority of all those questioned approved the conduct of the Estonian Government,

O. whereas Estonia, as an independent Member State of the EU and NATO, has the sovereign right to
assess its recent tragic past, starting with the loss of independence resulting from the Hitler-Stalin Pact
of 1939 and ending only in 1991,

P. whereas the Soviet occupation and annexation of the Baltic States was never recognised as legal by the

Western democracies,

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Q. whereas, in its resolution of 12 May 2005 on the 60th anniversary of the end of the Second World
War in Europe on 8 May 1945 (1), the European Parliament concluded that ‘for some nations the end of
World War II meant renewed tyranny inflicted by the Stalinist Soviet Union’ and congratulated the
central and eastern European countries on the occasion of their liberation ‘after so many decades
under Soviet domination or occupation’,

R. whereas only the legal successor to the Soviet Union, the Russian Federation, still denies the fact of the

illegal incorporation of the Baltic States into the Soviet Union;

Expresses its support for, and solidarity with, the democratically elected Estonian Government in its

1.
efforts to ensure order, stability and the rule of law for all residents of Estonia;

Regards attacks targeting one of the smallest EU Member States as a test case for the European Union's

2.
solidarity;

Considers inadmissible the various attempts to interfere in the internal affairs of Estonia by the Russian

3.
authorities;

4.
Is alarmed by the inadequate protection by the Russian authorities of the Estonian embassy in Moscow
and by the physical attacks on the Estonian Ambassador by the ‘Nashi’ demonstrators; calls on the Russian
Government to respect the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations without any exception;

5.
Condemns the attempts by Russia to exert economic pressure on Estonia as an instrument of foreign
policy and calls on the Russian Government to restore normal economic relations between the two states;

6.
Reminds the Russian authorities that the indiscriminate and openly hostile rhetoric used by the
Russian authorities against Estonia is in sharp contrast to the principles of international behaviour and
will affect EU-Russia relations generally;

7.
Calls on the Commission and all the Member States to assist in the analyses of the cyber attacks on
Estonian websites and to present a study on how such attacks and threats might be addressed at EU level;
calls on Russia to assist in these investigations to the full;

8.
Calls on the Russian Government to engage in an open and unbiased dialogue with the eastern and
central European democracies on the history of the 20th century, as well as on the crimes against humanity,
including those of totalitarian communism, committed then;

9. Welcomes the words of the Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves, who emphasised that people
who came to Estonia in Soviet times and now live in the Republic of Estonia, as well as their children and
grandchildren, are all Estonian fellow countrymen, that all Estonians have their own, very painful experience
of life under three consecutive occupying powers in the last century, and that there is a need to be able to
see and understand the tragedies of others, and who furthermore reminded all parties concerned that,
for that purpose, the Estonian domestic dialogue must be enhanced so as to bridge existing gaps between
the different communities and to create new opportunities to integrate Russian-speaking countrymen in
particular;

Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the governments

10.
and parliaments of the Member States and the Government and Parliament of the Russian Federation.

(1) OJ C 92 E, 20.4.2006, p. 392.