Russia protests the demolition by Poland of the Mausoleum of the Red Army soldiers
The Russian Ambassador sent a note to the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage and the Polish Foreign Ministry in connection with the demolition of the Mausoleum of the Red Army Soldiers in the Polish city of Trzcianka (Wielkopolska Voivodship), as stated by the head of the Ministry of Defense of Russia on the memorialization of those killed in the defense of the Fatherland, Vladimir Popov, Interfax reports.
"The Polish authorities, without the notification and consent of the Russians, demolished all of the architectural elements of the burial, including the Mausoleum of Red Army Soldiers," Popov said.
According to him, Polish authorities are trying to justify their actions by referencing the fact that there are no buried Soviet soldiers there," and if they are there, they will be exhumed and moved to another place." He also said that Polish authorities have twice appealed to the Russians regarding the dismantling of the monument in Trzcianka and twice they received replies with the argument that this is a Russian military burial place from the Second World War.
The representative of the Defense Ministry added that the Russians once again sent Poland documentary evidence of the burial of 56 Red Army soldiers at the site.
The communal grave of the Soviet soldiers in Trzcianka on Poshtova Square was opened in 1945. 56 soldiers of the Soviet Army (the personal data of 17 servicemen is known) who died during the liberation of the city during the Second World War were buried in the grave. The total area of the burial is 0.02 ha.