WASHINGTON, Jun 06, BNS – The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday unanimously passed a resolution supporting Estonia amid tension with Russia over the removal in April of a Soviet war memorial.
The resolution, which passed with votes 412-0, expressed solidarity with Estonia and condemned violence in Tallinn, the online edition of International Herald Tribune said.
The carefully worded resolution avoided direct condemnation of Russia but noted Russia’s refusal of a request by the Estonian government for cooperation during the crisis. The resolution is not binding on U.S. foreign policy.
Speaking on the House floor ahead of the vote, Democratic Rep. Tom Lantos, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, was more blunt.
“Today, we in Congress join our friends in Europe in expressing our strong disapproval of the unjustified and unacceptable Russian attacks against Estonia,” he said.
A resolution supporting Estonia was on May 3 passed also by the U.S. Senate that expressed strong support for Estonia as a sovereign state and a member of NATO and OSCE as it dealt with matters internal to the country, and condemned recent acts of violence, vandalism, and looting that took place in Estonia.
The Senate resolution came at a time when Russia’s pro-Kremlin youth movement Nashi was blockading the Estonian embassy in Moscow counter to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961.