Russia launches inquiry into Soviet Army memorial removal
Russia has launched an investigation after Poland dismantled "a monument of gratitude to the Red Army" in Głubczyce, in the southern part of the country, the head of the National Remembrance Institute (IPN) has said.
"A few days after we pulled down a propaganda memorial in Głubczyce, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation launched an inquiry and threatened us either with five years in a penal colony or with a RUB 5 million fine," Karol Nawrocki told TV Republika television on Monday.
The monument in Głubczyce was taken down on Friday as part of the IPN's operations aimed at removing Soviet propaganda memorials from Poland.
"The Russian Federation believes even today that it could furnish the public space of a free and independent Poland," Nawrocki said, adding that this was proof of Russia's imperial thinking.
The so-called monument of gratitude to the Red Army was erected in 1945 in Głubczyce to commemorate 676 Red Army soldiers of the 1st Ukrainian Front who fell in the fighting for the city in March 1945.
According to documents at the disposal of the Polish Red Cross, in 1952, the remains of the Red Army soldiers were exhumed and no burial sites were left there.
