The Embassy in Poland protested over the change of the monument in Rawicz

The Russian Embassy in Poland protested against changes in the appearance of the monument to Soviet soldiers in the Polish city of Rawicz.

“We learned with indignation about the plans of the Polish authorities to change the appearance of the monument to the Heroes of the Red Army at the military cemetery in the city of Rawicz, Greater Poland Voivodeship. According to media reports, the Polish side intends to remove the five-pointed star from the concrete obelisk, as well as remove the inscription “Glory to the fallen soldiers of the Red Army, the liberators of our Fatherland. Public of Rawicz Land" and replace it with a more "neutral" one: "The burial place of Red Army soldiers who died in battles with the Germans in the lands of southwestern Wielkopolska, Lower Silesia and Brandenburg in 1945," the message says.

At the same time, the Russian Embassy was not informed about these intentions of the Polish side.

“As is usually the case, the Polish authorities did not inform the embassy about this unjustifiable decision,” the diplomatic mission clarified.

The embassy considers the actions of the Polish authorities to be a manifestation of vandalism.

“This obvious example of state vandalism represents another gross violation by the Polish side, in particular, of the provisions of the Agreement between the government of the Russian Federation and the government of the Republic of Poland on graves and places of memory of victims of wars and repressions of February 22, 1994,” the diplomats emphasized.

They clarified that this agreement obliges the parties to “maintain places of memory and burial, ensuring the safety of graves, tombstones, monuments, and other memorial structures, as well as landscaping and maintaining them in proper order.” In addition, the monument in Rawicz is included in the “Catalogue of burial places of Soviet soldiers, prisoners of war and civilians who died during the Second World War and were buried on the territory of the Republic of Poland,” published in 2003 by the Russian Ministry of Defense, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Russian Embassy in Poland and the Council for the Preservation of the Memory of the Struggle and Martyrdom of the Republic of Poland, the diplomatic mission recalled.

Diplomats called the statements of the Polish authorities that the monument is “an object of some kind of propaganda” absurd and unfounded.

“The embassy expresses its strong protest to the Polish authorities and urges them to abandon plans to change the appearance of the Soviet monument in Rawicz,” the statement said.

The city of Ravich was liberated from Nazi occupation by the Red Army on January 23, 1945. About 1.5 thousand Soviet soldiers and officers are buried at the Ravich military cemetery.

The demolition of Soviet monuments is an initiative of the Institute of National Remembrance of Poland. This process was launched when the current President of the Republic, Karol Nawrocki, headed this institute.

Because of this activity, Navrotsky is a defendant in a criminal case initiated in Russia and is wanted.