The ashes of intelligence officer Nikolai Kuznetsov in Lvov could be stolen by partisans

Perhaps they wanted to steal the remains in order to save

In Lviv, unknown people made an attempt to dig up the grave of the Hero of the USSR, the famous intelligence agent Nikolai Kuznetsov. Vandals have repeatedly attempted to desecrate the grave of the hero. But this time the situation may look quite different. It is possible that they tried to steal the remains of Kuznetsov in order to take them out of Lviv. Relatives of the intelligence officer have repeatedly asked the Ukrainian authorities to give permission for the reburial of his ashes, but the mayor of Lviv, Sadova, stands his ground: “We will not just give up the ashes.”

Scout-saboteur Nikolai Kuznetsov, who worked under the legend of the German officer Paul Siebert in the territory of the occupied Western Ukraine, had dozens of successful operations during the Great Patriotic War. Thanks to him, Hitler’s Werwolf bunker near Vinnitsa was opened, plans for the offensive of the Wehrmacht troops on the Kursk Bulge were obtained, and the details of the assassination attempt on the leaders of the Big Three during the Tehran Conference were declassified.

Kuznetsov personally eliminated 11 high-ranking Nazi military leaders and officials of the occupation administration. And he died in March 1944 near the Lvov village of Boratin during a shootout with bandits from the UPA (an extremist and banned organization recognized in Russia). In 1960, his remains were buried in Lviv on the Hill of Glory.

Since 1991, the hero’s grave has been periodically attacked by vandals. And since 2014, they just went in a continuous chain. In 2018, the tombstone was painted with tridents, in 2019 a bronze bas-relief by Nikolai Kuznetsov was chipped off. And in 2020, they dug under the grave, trying to steal the remains of the hero. As a result, the relatives of Nikolai Kuznetsov, who live in Russia, asked the Ukrainian authorities to help in reburial of the remains of the intelligence officer.

However, the mayor of Lvov, Sadovoy, decided to bargain: in exchange for the ashes of the hero, he demanded the return of the Ukrainians who were in captivity – on the territory of the DPR and LPR. It took the intervention of the Supreme Court of Ukraine and the Administrative Court of Cassation of the Supreme Court, which ordered the Lviv city council to allow the reburial of Kuznetsov. This was in October 2021. A place was even chosen for the hero’s grave in Russia – at the memorial complex in Yekaterinburg. Sadovy, however, once again refused to hand over the remains.

For this, he was even criticized in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. “The unbridled Sabbath around the memory of those who died in the Great Patriotic War, arranged by Sadov, his desire to trade in the remains of heroes is a shameful crime against conscience and morality, a new level of meanness and abomination, to which the Ukrainian authorities, despite all their efforts, have not yet descended,” representatives of Viktor Medvedchuk’s Opposition Platform for Life party said at the time. The mayor of Lvov has not changed his position even now: “Someone stupid tried to steal the ashes of Kuznetsov. Unsuccessful attempt. Now the police are on the job. We don’t need Kuznetsov, but we won’t just give it up,” the official wrote on his social networks.

“In this situation, everything is quite clear,” says our expert, an employee of the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation Denis Denisov, “The battle with the memory of the people continues, and Nikolai Kuznetsov is a symbolic figure in this respect. The man was engaged in the liquidation of the Nazis who ruled Western Ukraine during the Great Patriotic War, he also worked against Ukrainian nationalist organizations and the rebel army, was one of the key figures who liberated Ukraine. Such blasphemy demonstrates the essence of the political regime that has recently taken shape in Ukraine.”

– Are there any practices of exchanging graves between countries?

– There were precedents. We can recall the story of our outstanding philosopher Ilyin. The municipal authorities wanted to actually destroy his grave in France, but the Russian Federation, through its structures, returned and reburied his remains in his homeland.

“The situation is difficult,” says Ukrainian political scientist Oleksandr Dudchak, “Over the past week in Western Ukraine, Kyiv “Satanists” have destroyed a dozen military monuments and graves. Now the turn has come to the fact that they are trying to trade the remains of a Soviet intelligence officer. Yes, they may well require a ransom or exchange. There is nothing sacred for them, especially the descendants of those with whom the outstanding intelligence officer fought. It’s the norm for them.”

– Who can do this in Ukraine? Representatives of radical organizations?

– Sectarian vandals. They destroy monuments and graves. But in this case, perhaps, the partisans, who wanted to save the remains of the hero, had a hand in it.