Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas is one of several Baltic ministers on the Russian Interior Ministry’s wanted list for “desecration of historical memory and hostility against Russia”.
Following the leaks published in numerous Western media on Tuesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that Kallas and State Secretary Taimar Peterkop had been added to the Russian Interior Ministry’s wanted list.
– These people are responsible for decisions that are actually tantamount to desecration of historical memory, Peskov told a news conference, adding that the Baltic politicians “taking hostile actions toward both historical memory and our country“.
Lithuania’s Culture Minister Simonas Kairy is also among those wanted, and according to sources in the Russian news agency Tass, “criminal proceedings had been launched against the Baltic officials for the destruction and damage of monuments to Soviet soldiers”.
Latvian ministers
Last September, the Russian Investigative Committee charged in absentia more than 170 foreign nationals, including citizens of Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland and Ukraine, with desecrating and destroying monuments to Soviet soldiers.
Sixteen criminal cases are currently under investigation for a total of 143 cases of desecration or destruction of, or damage to, war graves, monuments and memorials to Soviet soldiers.
It also appears that Russia has issued arrest warrants for Latvia’s Justice Minister Inese Libina-Egnere, Finance Minister Arvils Aseradens, and Agriculture Minister Armands Krauze on “criminal charges” that are not specified in the database, but these cases also involve the destruction of historical monuments, according to Tass.
