Estonia sent Russia a diplomatic note of protest Tuesday after around 30 representatives of Young Russia protested against an anti-Soviet bill passed by Estonian lawmakers, burning Estonian flags and hanging an effigy of an Estonian soldier.
"I would not burn national flags of foreign states, but to be honest, I see no criminality in this case," ombudsman Vladimir Lukin told RIA Novosti.
On November 30, the Estonian parliament approved a draft law introducing criminal responsibility for the public use and distribution of symbols pertaining to "occupation regimes," which would include Soviet symbols.
The Russian protesters held banners reading "Liberator is not the same as invader" and "Estonian authorities - go to Nuremberg", and set up a gallows with an effigy of an Estonian soldier dressed in Nazi uniform.
Estonia's attitude to WWII, including officially-sanctioned marches of former Nazi SS fighters, have been strongly condemned by Moscow. Ultra-nationalist lawmaker Vladimir Zhirinovsky has branded the Baltic country a "pro-Nazi state", and called for diplomatic ties with Tallinn to be severed. The Russian leadership has repeatedly called the EU's attention to Estonia's attempts to glorify Nazi Germany, and to its discriminatory policies relating to ethnic Russians who moved to the republic following its annexation by the Soviet Union.
Under the new bill, drafted by the Estonian Justice Ministry, the demonstration and distribution of official symbols of the Soviet Union and its republics, as well as symbols of the German Nazi Party and SS troops, including easily-recognizable fragments of such symbols, will be considered attempts to incite hatred, and will incur criminal punishment.
The leader of Young Russia admitted that burning Estonian flags was excessive, and did not rule out that the activists will apologize.
"We are considering this, and will make a decision on the issue soon," Maxim Mishchenko told RIA Novosti.
The human rights commissioner said he saw no violations of anyone's rights in the events, but said he is against such actions.
However, the director of the Institute of Political Studies think tank, Sergei Markov, said: "They are behaving in the right way. They should bring it home somehow to the Estonian authorities that they have created an undemocratic regime, and are conducting a policy of open discrimination against Russians."
Earlier Russia's foreign minister said he considered the Estonian lawmakers' decision to be a disgrace.
"I consider the Estonian government's latest decision morally disgraceful, and it could engender fabricated political problems while real problems, including those of the Russian-speaking population, should be resolved there," Sergei Lavrov said.
Mikhail Kamynin, official spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, has already reacted to the bill, calling it outrageous.
"The Estonian authorities are continuing their disgraceful attempts to re-write history and equate Nazi crimes and the heroism of the Soviet people, who made a huge contribution to Europe's liberation from Fascism," he said earlier, adding that Estonia's move could seriously damage bilateral relations.
The Baltic country was annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940, before World War II, and then re-conquered following the Nazi occupation of 1941-1944.
