Lithuania plans to dismantle the memorial to Soviet soldiers
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A memorial at the burial place of Soviet soldiers who died in the Great Patriotic War will be dismantled at the Antakalnis cemetery in Vilnius, LRT radio reports with reference to the capital’s municipality.
City Council meeting will be held on September 14.
“The City Council will have to make a decision on transferring these objects to the property of the city, after which promptly <...> dismantling work is scheduled to begin in September,” informed radio station (TASS quote).
On April 20, Lithuanian Minister of Culture Simonas Kairis signed an order allowing the demolition of Soviet monuments. After that, on June 8, it was decided to demolish six stelae at the Antakalnis cemetery dedicated to Soviet soldiers.
The Russian Foreign Ministry called this decision “blasphemy and barbarism.” The embassy stressed that under the stelae are the remains of over 3,000 Red Army soldiers who died in July 1944 during the Vilnius offensive operation.
In August, a monument to the Soviet T-34 tank was removed from the pedestal in Narva and sent to the Estonian War Museum. The “Narva Tank” (installed in 1970 at the place where the advancing units of the Red Army crossed the river in 1944 and broke through the Nazi defenses) is the last monument of this kind surviving on the territory of Estonia, Interfax noted. The dismantling of the monument tank was preceded by a statement by the Prime Minister of the Republic, Kai Kallas, about the demolition of all monuments to Soviet soldiers by the end of the year.
In May, the Saeima of Latvia supported the law on the suspension of the bilateral agreement with Russia on memorial structures and monuments. The parliament of the republic in the first reading supported the bill, which obliges the municipal authorities to demolish all Soviet monuments by November 15. This involves, for example, the dismantling of the monument “To the Soldiers of the Soviet Army – the Liberators of Soviet Latvia and Riga from the Nazi Invaders” in the Victory Park in Riga.
According to the mayor of the Latvian capital, Mārtiņš Stakis, this memorial is awaiting disposal, as it, according to him, has no artistic value. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also expressed a strong protest to the Ambassador of Latvia in Moscow, Maris Riekstins.
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