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Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the European Union

Submitted on 2016-08-15 15:44:17

Comment by the Information and Press Department on acts of vandalism against burial sites of Red Army soldiers


We condemn the ongoing vociferous campaign against Soviet WWII memorials in Poland.

In late July – early August, unidentified persons desecrated the cemetery of Red Army soldiers in Kielce (Swietokrzyskie Voivodeship) twice. They overturned gravestones, with two of them broken.

In early August, vandals painted an insulting inscription on the central sculptural composition of the Soviet military cemetery in Makow (Masovian Voivodeship) and made a fire in one of the flower beds.

In violation of the provisions stipulated by Article 3 of the Agreement between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of the Republic of Poland on Memorial Sites of Victims of War and Reprisals of February 22, 1994, Polish authorities failed to inform Russia of the abovementioned barbaric acts.

We have to draw Poland’s attention to the fact that its repeated statements on state protection of Poland-based cemeteries of Red Army soldiers and officers in fact do not stand up to criticism. The atmosphere of anti-Russian hysteria that is being instigated in Poland encourages vandals to defile Soviet memorials, including burial sites.

We strongly condemn insults to the memory of Soviet soldiers, which have become common practice in Poland. We demand that those who are guilty be found and punished. We stress that Russia will react to each incident of desecration or destruction of any of our memorials in Poland.


Source URL: https://russiaeu.ru/en/node/2353