On ancient faultline, Estonia's statue row simmers

IVANGOROD, Russia (AFP) — Amid a blazing row between Russia and Estonia, an Estonian ban on alcohol sales had an upside for Yelena Bogetova: customers trooping across the border to Russia to stock up at her shop.

"Do you expect people not to drink? Russians without vodka -- well..." she exclaimed, her thoughts tailing off.

Two ancient fortresses face each other across the Narva river, a reminder that today's border between Russia and its Western-backed neighbour has been a strategic battleground at least since Medieval times, when the area was contested by Danes, Swedes and Russians.

Today Ivangorod on the Russian side and its Estonian counterpart Narva are again a lightning rod for tensions, amid a bitter dispute over last month's removal of a War World II monument from the Estonian capital Tallinn.

In Tallinn one Russian citizen was killed as ethnic-Russians rioted over the transfer of the ...