Ethnic Russian activists will stage rallies Tuesday and Thursday in Estonia's capital calling for the release of two group members arrested in April for protesting against the removal of a Soviet war memorial.

Estonia on Tuesday reburied the remains of eight Soviet soldiers exhumed from a war grave - a move that had sparked riots in April and infuriated neighboring Russia.

The U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed a resolution supporting Estonia amid tension with Russia since the removal in April of a monument commemorating a Red Army victory in World War II.

A dispute about the relocation of the Soviet War monument led to angriness of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov who said Monday that the U.N. and NATO were conniving at disrespect the memory of Soviet soldiers and seeking to rewrite history.

The EU pressed Russia to reinforce protection of the Estonian embassy in Moscow for it has been besieged by activists protesting the decision to remove the World War II memorial from center of Tallinn.

A visit by a Russian parliamentary delegation to Tallinn appears to have increased tensions in an Estonian-Russian row over the Estonian government's removal of a Soviet World War II monument.

Lawmakers from Russia's lower house of parliament arrived in Estonia today in the wake of the Estonian government's removal of a Soviet World War II memorial in Tallinn. The removal of the Bronze Soldier statue from a central square last week sparked riots that left one Russian national dead and more than 150 people injured.

The Estonian government has speeded up plans to reerect a Soviet-era war memorial in a bid to defuse deadly tensions over its removal from central Tallinn. The Foreign Ministry said that preparatory work will start today at the Tallinn military cemetery to relocate the Bronze Soldier.