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Poland Has Right to Dismantle Soviet-Era Monuments ?€” Ambassador

A monument to Red Army soldiers stands next to a Greek Catholic church in Warsaw, Poland. Katarina Stoltz / Reuters

Poland has the right to take down Soviet-era monuments, with the exception of burial sites, the Polish Ambassador to Russia Katarzyna Pelczynska-Nalecz said after the Russian Foreign Ministry issued a formal protest against the dismantling of a Red Army memorial in the Polish city of Mielec, the Interfax news agency reported on Tuesday.

The Foreign Ministry deemed the action to be a breach of bilateral accords. In a note published on the ministry's website on Nov. 30, the ministry accused Poland of enabling what it referred to as an “orgy” of vandalism against Soviet-era memorials, some of which are protected by a 1994 agreement on the preservation of burial sites and memorials to victims of war and repression.

?€?In our view, the existing Russian-Polish agreement applies to cemeteries and burial sites,?€? Pelczynska-Nalecz was quoted as saying by Interfax.

?€?So-called symbolic memorials, where no one is buried, are the responsibility of local authorities, and can be dismantled in accordance with certain procedures,?€? she added.

According to Poland's public service broadcaster Polish Radio, the Gratitude to the Red Army Memorial dismantled in Mielec may be transferred to a history museum.

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