In Narva, Estonia, the T-34 tank was dismantled as part of the efforts of the Estonian government to remove all military monuments of the Red Army from the public domain.

The ERR reports about this.

The dismantling procedure began early on Tuesday and took about three years. The tank was loaded onto a military cargo truck and taken to the Estonian War Museum in Valmiera. The process was monitored by journalists, police and soldiers, but there were no civilians.

At the same time the works on the transfer of other monuments in the region are in progress.

To ensure security, the police imposed a curfew near the monuments, which means the closure of the road for vehicles and pedestrians.

According to the Department of Police and Cordon Police, near the place where the tank is deployed on Friday the dialogue police will be working, which will communicate with locals in both Estonian and Russian languages.

"Their main role is to prevent conflicts, defuse tension and explain what rights the police have under the law in case of disobedience to the law", - the department stated.

Dismantling of the tank began at 7 a.m. on Tuesday. The decision was approved, notwithstanding the opposition of local residents of the pro-Russian town.

The Estonian government decided to remove the tank and other monuments of the Red Army in Narva and the city of Narva-Jiesuu from the public space.

The Soviet tank, one of the most famous symbols of the Soviet occupation in Estonia, was in the city of Narva most of its residents (over 80%) are ethnic Russians and some 36% have Russian citizenship.

Narva Mayor Katra Reik spoke out against the relocation of the Radyansk memorial tank, calling it part of the identity of the local Russian population.

In the course of the discussion on the removal of the monument, local residents began to march in front of it so that it would not be moved.