When Andrus Ansip, the Estonian premier, paid his respects at the statue of the Bronze Soldier in Tallinn on Tuesday, it was the first time the government had honoured the war memorial it regards as a symbol of 50 years of Soviet occupation.

Mr Ansip's symbolic act of reconciliation followed the worst rioting since independence over the statue's removal from the city centre to a military cemetery. Protesters in Moscow also attacked Estonia's embassy and sabotaged state websites, and Russian companies diverted transit trade.