Comment by the Foreign Ministry on the acts of vandalism towards World War II monuments in Poland

We deeply regret and are outraged by the continued acts of vandalism towards the monuments and memorials to the Soviet soldiers who liberated Poland from Nazi invaders and to the Polish soldiers who fought alongside them against fascism. Insulting their memory has become a fact of daily life rooted in the openly anti-Russian campaigns and the deliberate falsification of history by some Polish politicians and media outlets.

In February 2015 alone, the graves of Red Army soldiers in Kalisz, Greater Poland (Wielkopolska) Voivodeship, were desecrated, a memorial plaque was smashed in Aleksandrów Łódzki (Łódz Voivodeship) and a monument to Polish and Soviet paratroopers was vandalised in Gmina Lubasz (Greater Poland Voivodeship), a case that was especially barbarous, as the vandals decapitated the statues.

We are increasingly concerned about and resent the fact that the Polish authorities have joined this war against World War II monuments. On February 26, the Warsaw City Council voted to reverse its decision of 2011 to reinstate a monument of Soviet-Polish comradeship in arms, which had been temporarily removed with Russia's agreement due to the construction of a metro line, to its place in central Warsaw.

We see these facts as abuse of the memory of those who fell fighting for the freedom and independence of the Polish people that is incompatible with the fundamental principles of a civilised society. We'd like to point out in this connection that over 600,000 Soviet soldiers fell liberating Poland from Nazi occupation. Besides, about 800,000 prisoners of war from the former Soviet Union died at Nazi concentration camps and were buried in Poland.

We expect the Polish side to provide official explanations of these incidents and demand that all bilateral agreements, including the February 22, 1994 Russian-Polish intergovernmental agreement on the graves and memorials of the victims of war and persecution, be honoured unconditionally and that exhaustive measures be taken to prevent and preclude future acts of vandalism and to find and punish all those who have committed such acts. We urge the Polish authorities to publicly and explicitly denounce this war on monuments and to state clearly that the monuments of those who fell liberating Poland from Nazism are inviolable.