Russian Foreign Ministry calls on Poland to condemn act of vandalism against Soviet war memorial
MOSCOW. July 27 (Interfax) - Moscow has demanded that Polish authorities punish those responsible for vandalizing a monument to Soviet soldiers, and restore the monument.
The monument, erected on the Soviet soldiers' mass grave in the village of Pszcziseki (Wielkopolska Voivodship), was desecrated in the early hours of July 25. The monument, perpetuating the memory of soldiers from the 61st Army of the First Belarusian Front who died in 1945 fighting Nazi invaders in the battle for Krzyz, was stripped of the red star.
"We are urging the Polish authorities to condemn this incident, to find and punish those responsible, and restore the memorial site to its initial form," the Russian Foreign Ministry said on its website.
"Despite Polish officials' repeated claims that Soviet soldiers' graves in Poland are being reliably protected and looked after, these are regularly attacked by vandals," the ministry said.
This is being facilitated, "to no small degree, by the so-called 'historic policy' pursued by Warsaw on a state level," which aims to belittle the Red Army's role in liberating Europe from fascism, the ministry said. "To add fuel to the fire, the media are constantly mulling Polish authorities' plans for Soviet military monuments outside of mass graves to be removed from the public space entirely. In July, another municipality - this time, the town of Sanok (Podkarpackie Voivodeship) - decided to dismantle the monument of Gratitude to the Red Army," according to the commentary.
Poland continues dodging a constructive dialogue to resolve the problems relating to the war memorials, the ministry said. It has yet to reply to Russia's proposal to hold a meeting of the working group in charge of implementation of a Russian-Polish intergovernmental agreement on mass graves and monuments to the victims of wars and repressions, dated February 22, 1994.
"We would like to hope that common sense will eventually triumph, that Poland stop the systemic attacks on the memory of the people who gave their lives for the freedom and independence of this country, for the survival of the Polish nations, and that the freed-up energy will be steered in a positive direction of strengthening good neighborliness, peace and stability in Europe," the Russian Foreign Ministry said.