March 25 deportations commemoration parallels current situation in Ukraine
Location:
Estonia
News Category:
Life
Source Website:
Saturday sees the anniversary of the March 25, 1949 deportation of over 20,000 Estonians, the bulk of them women and children, to Siberia and other locations deep inside the Soviet Union.
While poignant at any time, the 74th anniversary takes on a new significance in the light of the invasion of Ukraine as conducted by the Soviet Union's successor state, the Russian Federation, now in its second year and with deportations also among the atrocities reported from that conflict, Estonian politicians said.
"Different decades. Different name of the country. Even different regime. But what stays the same is the cruel and brutal playbook Russia uses," Minister of Foreign Affairs Urmas Reinsalu (Isamaa) wrote on social media on Saturday.
