Russia condemns Poland’s “sacrilegious” demolition of Soviet monument
Poland's Institute of National Remembrance says the monument was a "Soviet propaganda object" that had to be removed.
Russia has harshly criticized Poland's demolition of a Soviet-era monument in Pyrzyce, labeling it as "sacrilegious" and a "flagrant violation" of an agreement between the two nations. The monument, which had stood since 1984, was deemed a "Soviet propaganda object" by Poland's Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), the body that oversaw its removal.
Poland's state institute argues that the monument, featuring a relief of a Soviet soldier, served to uphold communism and should be removed as part of a 2016 law mandating the "decommunisation" of public spaces. Russian officials have lodged a formal protest, emphasizing that the 1994 agreement between Poland and Russia relates to graves and war cemeteries, not monuments, and that the removal of the Soviet monument is an attempt to alter history and erase the memory of Soviet soldiers' heroism.
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