Warmia-Masuria Province council in Poland rejects idea of dismantling WWII monument
KALININGRAD. March 27 (Interfax) - The head of Poland's Warmia-Masuria Province, Marian Podziewski, has announced that the regional council voted unanimously against plans to dismantle a monument to Russian Army Commander Ivan Chernyakhovsky in the town of Pieniezna.
The situation concerning the monument was discussed at a meeting between Russian Kaliningrad region governor Nikolai Tsukanov and Podziewski, Tsukanov's press service said.
The Polish official said that Poland's World War II veterans had asked the local authorities to keep the Chernyakhovsky monument in Pieniezna.
The Kaliningrad region's government is prepared to help volunteers look after this monument, Tsukanov said.
Russian Ambassador to Poland Alexander Alexeyev said earlier that certain Polish circles had launched an anti-Russia campaign aimed at diminishing its role in World War II.
"Today there is a massive, active, nationally heated campaign in Poland to discredit Russia's role in the victory over fascism. The situation around monuments is part of it. All means are being used in this campaign - work with historians, journalists, the public," the ambassador said at a mourning ceremony in the Polish town of Pieniezno (Warmia-Masuria province, formerly Germany's Mehlsack) to mark the anniversary of Soviet General Ivan Chernyakhovsky's death.
The Pieniezno authorities decided in January to dismantle the Chernyakhovsky, describing it as a symbol of the country's Soviet past.
This decision caused a mixed response in Poland itself and was fiercely criticized by the Russian Foreign Ministry and Russian society.