Construction Starts on Replica of Wrecked Georgian Monument

By AP

May 10, 2010

From left to right, Georgian opposition leader Nino Burdzhanadze, State Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov walking during a cornerstone ceremony for a replica of a destroyed memorial in Georgia, Saturday, May 8. Mikhail Metzel

Half a year after Georgia blew up a huge memorial honoring the Red Army's fight in World War II, construction of a smaller version has begun in Moscow.

Top leaders of Georgia's opposition forces joined Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Saturday to lay the cornerstone for the replica in Poklonnaya Gora, a vast Moscow park dedicated to the Russian and Soviet militaries.

Georgia destroyed the 45-meter-tall monument in Kutaisi last December. Officials said the space was needed to build a new national parliament building, but many saw the action as a deliberate insult by Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili to Russia in the wake of the countries' brief war in 2008.

Two bystanders were killed by the blast.

Putin on Saturday called the Georgian monument's destruction "one of the most monstrous examples of barbarism."

He was joined for the unveiling by Georgian opposition leader Nino Burdzhanadze, State Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov and Mayor Yury Luzhkov.

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