The embassy submitted the note to the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, saying that the renovation of Estonian War of Independence graves at the Estonian Defense Forces Cemetery on Filtri tee constituted the "desecration" of nearby Soviet graves and a "double standard."

"The embassy submitted a note to the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemning the ongoing 'state vandalism.' We also remind that the desecration of war graves and memorial sites, even outside the borders of Russia, is punishable under criminal law," the statement read.

Hellar Lill, director of the Estonian War Museum, overseeing the renovation work, denied any desecration was going on.

"There is irony in that itself. When they say it must be restored in its original form, in fact, this is the Estonian Defense Forces Cemetery. And what was done there during the Soviet era is pretty horrible. All those graves of Estonian servicemen were in large part desecrated, which we are now gradually restoring with our memorials," Lill said.

As for criminal liability, Lill said that Estonian laws apply in Estonia.

"We operate here according to our own laws and we actually treat the Red Army soldiers' graves outside the Defense Forces Cemetery with respect as well," he went on.

The museum is gradually restoring the grave markers of Estonian servicemen in the same sector destroyed in 1949-1950, Lill noted.

The Soviet soldiers' remains were later interred there on top, Lill added, though there is reason to suspect that no remains were buried, and simply gravestones were put in place.

"In any case, those cenotaphs are there. And when we restore the Estonian ones, we do not remove the Soviet ones, but we do place them horizontally on the ground. This is also the architect's recommendation, to avoid such an architectural chaos. There is nothing unusual about this; in many cemeteries in Europe it is customary that the plaque is level with the ground," Lill went on.

Lill said that the organization has been in contact with the Russian embassy on the matter in the past also.

"And naturally they have also previously expressed their opinions about all sorts of things we are doing at the Defense Forces Cemetery in the name of restoration. Their view of it is different," he added.

In its statement, the embassy said it was "closely monitoring" the work at the cemetery, adding that "during the latest inspection visit, we discovered that in sector B3 the gravestones of Soviet soldiers, restored in April at the expense of the Russian embassy, had been removed from their bases and placed directly on the ground."

The embassy claimed the slabs, made of dolomite, "cannot withstand contact with the ground for long," adding that they have been "pressed into the mud."

Lill noted that restoration work at the cemetery is a yearly activity.. "This year we only just recently finished the restoration of around 20 gravestones of Estonian servicemen," he added.

Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which started over three-and-a-half years ago, brought the status of Soviet-era war graves, memorials, statues, frescoes, symbols, and other installations under scrutiny, with authorities in many cases removing them, while treating human remains with respect in either leaving them in situ or reinterring them at a suitable location.

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