Lithuania protested to Russia over the removal of the memorial sign to Bishop Reinis

On October 24, the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry summoned Charge d’Affaires of Russia Alexander Elkin, expressing protest to him in connection with the removal of a memorial plaque in Vladimir in honor of the former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Archbishop of the Catholic Church Mechislav Reinis. About it reported on the department’s website.

“Such actions cannot be viewed as anything other than contempt for historical truth and the memory of the victims of the Stalinist regime; the ministry demanded that the responsible Russian authorities restore the destroyed monuments,” the statement said.

Lithuanian diplomats also announced the demolition of other monuments to victims of repression. At the same time, in Vilnius in December 2022, the dismantling of six steles of the memorial to Soviet soldiers at the Antakalnis cemetery was completed, reported RIA Novosti with reference to a representative of the Vilniaus BDT company that carried out the work. Similar measures were taken by the authorities of Latvia, Estonia and Poland. As the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova noted, the authorities of these countries are trying to “settle historical scores with Russia” and erase the memory of the victory in World War II.

Reinis was ordained a priest in 1907, was a professor at the Vilnius Theological Seminary, and taught philosophy and sociology. In 1915 he joined the Christian Democratic Party, and in 1925-1926. served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania. In 1947, he was arrested by Soviet state security agencies and sentenced to eight years in prison on charges of participation in an anti-Soviet nationalist organization and anti-Soviet agitation. He died in 1953 in prison in Vladimir, and was rehabilitated in 1989.