Russia condemns Polish city’s “barbaric” removal of Monument of Gratitude to the Red Army
The fate of the monument has been subject to a long-running legal and political battle in Rzeszów.
Russia has harshly criticized the Polish city of Rzeszów for removing a monument dedicated to the Soviet Red Army, describing the act as "barbaric" and "sacrilegious". The obelisk, which stands eight and a half meters tall and weighs six and a half tons, has been the center of a protracted legal and political dispute. The monument, situated on Ghetto Victims Square, was erected shortly after World War Two to commemorate the Soviet soldiers who liberated Poland from Nazi occupation.
However, the city's leftist mayor at the time argued that the monument's naming, which refers to gratitude to the Red Army, did not promote communism. Despite the legal victory for the city, Russia demanded an immediate halt to the removal work, calling it a violation of Russian-Polish agreements on preserving memorial sites.
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