The Estonian Prime Minister today accused Russia of interfering in its affairs of state as the row escalated over the tiny Baltic state's removal of a statue to Soviet war dead.

Estonia says that the Moscow authorities stood by and failed to intervene when a gang of protesting Russian youths attacked the Estonian ambassador to Moscow at a press conference today

Marina Kaljurand's bodyguards were forced to fire tear gas to beat back the group of 30 youths, members of the Kremlin-backed Nashi (Ours) youth group, who had forced their way into the conference, shouting that Estonia was a fascist state.

Ms Kaljurand had called the news conference to demand that Russia do more to protect staff at the Estonian Embassy. She was unhurt in the incident.

Afterwards, she declared that the embassy building would be closed until the security situation around it had "normalised". Most of the staff and their families have been evacuated.

The Estonian embassy in Moscow has been under virtual siege by Russian nationalist protesters for six days, ever since the Estonian government ordered that a statue known as the Bronze Soldier, a memorial to Red Army war dead, should be taken down from the square in the centre of Tallinn where it had stood for nearly 60 years, and relocated to a military cemetery on the outskirts of the capital.

Estonians dislike the monument, seeing it as a grim reminder of 50 years of Soviet occupation of their country. Russians, including Estonia's large Russian ethnic minority, revere it as a symbol of the liberation of northern Europe from the Nazis.

The clash of views had made the statue the focus of inter-ethnic tensions, leading to protests and scuffles.

But the situation has escalated dramatically since the statue was moved last week, prompting outrage amongst Russians. The Russian foreign ministry denounced the move as "blasphemous", and the Parliament recommended that the Russian ambassador should be recalled from Tallinn.

Estonia has accused the Kremlin not only of deliberately failing to protect Estonia's embassy or its consulate personnel since the crisis developed, but of tacitly encouraging the attacks by groups like Nashi.

Cyber attacks on Estonian government websites had been launched from Kremlin web addresses, it claims.

"It is customary in Europe that differences... are solved by diplomats and politicians, not on the streets or by computer attacks," Toomas Hendrik Ilves, the Estonian president, said today. He described the embassy protests as "psycho-terror".

Andrus Ansip, the Estonian Prime Minister, said that the incidents were no longer pranks by isolated protesters but amounted to coordinated "interference by Russia in the affairs of the Estonian state".

Moscow insisted that it was meeting its obligations.

"As for the situation around the embassy, that has been provoked by those steps undertaken by the Estonian leadership in connection with the relocation of the monument and the remains of Soviet soldiers.

“Passions have been brought to the boil and we believe the blame for that rests entirely with the Estonian side,” said Mikhail Kamynin, chief spokesman for the Russian foreign ministry.

The impression of a covert Russian attack on Estonian interests deepened this afternoon when the Russian state railway monopoly said that it was going to carry out maintenance work on its track which would disrupt exports of Russian refined oil products to Estonia.

“We haven’t imposed any economic sanctions against Estonia and have no plans to do so. But from May 1, we plan repair works. We therefore plan to change the delivery schedule,” said a spokeswoman for the Russian state railways.

Today Russian police did not intervene as other youths attacked the Estonian ambassador's car outside the press conference.

The protesters also blocked the arrival of a Swedish embassy vehicle, prompting Sweden to lodge a "strong verbal protest" with the Russian embassy in Stockholm and summon the Russian ambassador to account for the incident.

"The ambassador's car was stopped and attacked by a mob as he was leaving the Estonian embassy. They kicked the car and tore off the Swedish flag. The ambassador was not injured but the atmosphere was very aggressive," said a Swedish foreign ministry spokesman.

The European Commission has urged Moscow to end the blockade of the Estonian embassy and to respect its international obligations.

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