Other events in Baltic States

On September 8, the Mayor of Tallinn Edgar Savisaar will unveil at a festive ceremony the portrait statue of former Patriarch of Moscow and All of Russia Alexius II who is of Estonian origin, writes LETA/Eesti Päevaleht.

According to the daily newspaper, Savisaar has invited several prominent Russian politicians and public figures to the unveiling ceremony, including the Mayor of Moscow Sergey Sobyanin and the head of Russian Railways Vladimir Yakunin.

Yakunin was involved in the scandal involving financing of the Centre Party that erupted in December 2010. The Security Police revealed that Savisaar, who is the head of the Centre Party as well as the Mayor of Tallinn had asked for a donation in cash for the church from Yakunin. According to the Security Police Board, the suspicious financing scheme was prevented, but Yakunin had later commented that he was insulted by the whole matter and had refused to later attend an event organised by the Estonian Railways.

In the invitation to Russian guests, Savisaar emphasised that the portrait statue of Alexius II will be opened on a square in the Lasnamäe City District, next to the Orthodox church that will be built there and to which Alexius II himself placed the cornerstone in 2003. The decision to commemorate Alexius II with a statue was made by Savisaar in 2008 and this was a source of another political controversy; members of both coalition parties, the Reform Party and PRU, were of the opinion that the services of Alexius II towards Estonia had been questionable. Savisaar then pointed out that Alexius II helped Estonia to regain its independence when taking part in the work of the committee that revealed the secret protocols of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.