Riga, 4 August 2022 (dpa/MIA) - All remaining monuments in Estonia dating back to the Soviet era will soon be dismantled or relocated, according to the prime minister of the small Baltic nation that borders Russia. "The main thing is decided - Soviet monuments must be removed from public space, and we will do that as soon as possible," Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said in Tallinn on Thursday. When and in what order the individual monuments would be removed depends on willingness and logistical planning on part of the cities and municipalities, the premier added. According to Kallas, there are still between 200 and 400 Soviet-era monuments in Estonia. Following alternate occupation by the Soviet Union and Germany during World War II, the Baltic state, alongside Latvia and Lithuania, was involuntarily part of the Soviet Union until 1991. People started gathering at a controversial tank monument near the Estonian-Russian border town of Narva in the east of the country on Wednesday, after rumours that the war relic, which stands on a high plinth, would be removed. Officials in the town, population 60,000 of which more than 90% are ethnic Russians, have spoken out against relocating the tank. They said they would seek talks with Tallinn on the matter after the prime minister's announcement. "A tank is a murder weapon, it's not an object of remembrance. And the same tanks are currently being used to kill people on the streets of Ukraine," Kallas said. Around a quarter of Estonia's population are ethnic Russians, many of whom have family ties with Russia. Some support Russian President Vladimir Putin's strategy and his invasion of Ukraine, surveys show.