Reading TBT by Internet as well as in the international mass media, I have been amazed by the Russian double-standards in assessing the removal of the so-called Russian Bronze Soldier statue in Tallinn, Estonia.
As a former Portuguese soldier in the early 1970s, I remember (all we Portuguese remember!) how Russians actively promoted the removal of all statues of our soldiers, sailors, artists, politicians and intellectuals in 1974/5 in our African territories when Portugal withdrew from all its last five African colonies - Guinea, Cape-Verde, St. Thomas/Principe, Angola and Mozambique.
The Russians did not "relocate" them but simply destroyed them in a public and self-trumpeted show of revanchism.
Have they apologized to us for that to this today? No, and I doubt they ever will! Do you in the Baltics know how many Portuguese soldiers were killed by Russian-supported guerrilla fighters? 10,000 young soldiers plus 40,000 wounded.
Let Estonia and Estonians know that in distant Portugal we stand for them, staunchly.
Alberto Kaddosh-Santos
