MOSCOW, February 15 (AVN) - Estonian President Lennard Meri has conferred state awards on 19 "warriors of freedom" who fought on the German side in WWII, the Military News Agency learned from the Russian Foreign Ministry.
All of the warriors served in the 20th SS division, which was formed from Estonian volunteers and was known for its extreme atrocities. The Nazi used the division for suppressing partisans in Belarus, Ukraine, and the Leningrad, Pskov, and Novgorod regions.
The retaliators were eliminated in the battle of Stalingrad. Part of the Estonian 'Angels of Death' moved to the west together with the Germans.
Recently these "political emigrants" have started to return to Estonia.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has sent a protest to the Estonian government saying the awarding of the executioners was an insult to the memory of those who died in WWII.