Nashi Movement
On June 4, 2007, three members of the Nashi movement, clothed in tent coats, proceeded to stand in for the Bronze Soldier in its former location. Estonian authorities responded by cancelling their tourism visas for non-tourism activities and deported all three to Russia.
On June 14, 2007, Russian authorities expressed concern of the discrepancy between a 13-member list of burials and only 12 exhumed bodies, accusing Estonian archeologists of losing the thirteenth body. Estonian government has refuted the claims, based on the dig's final report concluding there were no more burials in this area, and instead proposed that captain Sysoyev was mistakenly added to the 13-member list in the postwar confusion.
The Nashi movement had planned pickets in Estonia on September 22, 2007, to commemorate "liberation of Tallinn from fascism". After Estonian embassy in Moscow refused to issue visas for such purpose, pickets were instead held in front of the embassy.
In December 2007, Estonia became a party to the Schengen treaty. As a result, people banned from entering Estonia have also been banned from entry into the whole Schengen space. Several Nashi activists deported from Estonia for visa violation (including staging the "memory guard" pickets) before it became part of Schengen have been unable to gain entry into other Schengen countries (, ). Estonia allegedly also used its membership to deny entry to Nashi activists not involved in protests in Estonia. A Lithuanian court has convicted another similarly blacklisted activist of illegal border crossing, sentenced him to 30 days of arrest, and confiscated his night sight equipment and large amounts of cash as contraband.
Some Nashi activists picketed the European Commission's Moscow offices on Tuesday to protest EU travel restrictions. Picket had been called "anti-Estonian" by the Estonian media.
The blacklisting lead Nashi to accuse the European Union of violating democratic principles that European officials often accuse Russia of violating, echoing sentiments by then-President of Russia Vladimir Putin who often accused European officials of applying double standards to Russia.
Read more about this topic: Aftermath Of The Bronze Night
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“When delicate and feeling souls are separated, there is not a feature in the sky, not a movement of the elements, not an aspiration of the breeze, but hints some cause for a lover’s apprehension.”
—Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751–1816)