The protests by ethnic Russians against the removal of the Red Army war memorial in Tallinn have exposed the deep scars that still lie beneath the surface of the Baltic states.

For most Europeans, the defeat of the Nazis by the Allies in the Second World War was a simple victory of good over evil. Russia’s decisive contribution to the effort remains to this day a huge source of national pride. But Estonians and others in the region see it differently.

Stalin invaded Estonia and the other Baltic states in 1941 after the secret Molotov-Ribbentrop pact carved up the region into Nazi and Soviet spheres of influence.

A year later Germany invaded the Soviet Union and occupied Estonia. The region was then retaken by the Russians in 1944 and the country incorporated into the Soviet Union. During the occupation, thousands of Estonians were killed or sent to the Gulags.

When Estonia won its independence in 1991 it quickly turned its back on Russia, realigning with the West and joining the European Union and Nato in 1994.

But the Russian-speaking community, which accounts for a third of the 1.3 million population, feels rejected and cut off from the motherland.

The growing tensions exploded into violence around the removal of the Red Army statue. Estonia’s President had described it as “monument to mass murder”.

Many of his Russian citizens see it as a mark of respect to the millions of Russians who sacrificed their lives during the war.

The historical row is likely to continue — even though the war has been over for more than 60 years. Estonia is now protected by its Western allies and its defiance could inspire other former Soviet republics.

In Russia the move will only encourage the rise of nationalism and xenophobia.

An old fault line in Europe is once again an open wound.

Times Recommends

• Would you live on the wrong side of the Berlin Wall?
• Wish you were here, says Iraq tourist board
• Russian policeman’s corruption plea to Putin