EU backs Estonia in monument row with Russia

BERLIN (Reuters) - The European Union on Wednesday urged Russia to tone down criticism of EU member Estonia over the removal of a Soviet monument in Tallinn.

Estonia moved the Red Army monument from the centre of Tallinn last month, infuriating the Kremlin and sparking violence in the Estonian capital as ethnic Russians rioted.

EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said the Russian government had to recognise that its small Baltic neighbour was not a threat.

"We're in solidarity with the country which can't represent a threat to the big power that Russia is," he said at an event at the Foreign Ministry of current EU president Germany.

Estonia, annexed by Moscow in 1940, has faced a barrage of criticism from Russian politicians for moving the bronze statue of a Red Army soldier. Most Russians say the Soviet Union liberated Eastern Europe from the fascism of Nazi Germany.

Various Russian parties and parliament have appealed to President Vladimir Putin to impose sanctions on Estonia. Cutting energy transits via the Baltic state, a boycott of its goods and severing diplomatic relations are among the proposed steps.

Also in Berlin, the President of the European Parliament, Hans-Gert Poettering, said that Moscow should not intervene in Estonia's domestic affairs, adding that calls from Russia for the Estonian government to step down should stop.

"We stand side by side with Estonia, because it belongs to the European family," Poettering said, while urging Tallinn to safeguard the well-being of the country's Russian minority.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said it had been made clear to Estonians in the past few days that they were not standing alone and that Europe had brought its influence to bear in Moscow to prevent an escalation of the dispute.