Poland on Wednesday protested against the removal of military symbols from a Polish cemetery in Russia, a move that Warsaw slammed as "provocation" and an attempt to interfere in its presidential election.
Soviet secret police, the NKVD, massacred some 22,000 Polish officers during World War II in the Katyn forest, western Russia, as well as in Kharkiv, modern-day Ukraine, and Mednoye in Russia.
Poland's Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday it had received a report from the Polish embassy "about the devastation of a Polish monument at the War Cemetery in Mednoye."
The ministry said in a statement that Polish military crosses "have been hacked off a cemetery monument."
"We regard this outrageous provocation not only as an attempt to interfere in Poland's presidential election, but as a typical Russian ploy to change history," the ministry added.
The second round of the presidential election in Poland will pit pro-European candidate Rafał Trzaskowski against nationalist Karol Nawrocki on June 1.
The Polish officers, whose remains were unearthed at Mednoye, were taken prisoner by the Soviet army after its invasion of Poland on Sept. 17, 1939.
For decades the Soviet Union had blamed the crime on Nazi Germany.
"We demand that the Russians immediately restore the cemetery to its original condition," the Polish foreign ministry said.
The cemetery administration confirmed on its website that it had removed the military symbols following "violations of federal law."
Since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Poland, a staunch ally of Kyiv, has accused Russia of conducting hybrid attacks and orchestrating sabotage operations on its territory.
In May, Poland said it ordered the Russian consulate in Krakow to close, accusing Russia of ordering the arson attack on a large shopping center in Warsaw last year.
Last year, Warsaw had already ordered the closure of the Russian consulate in the city of Poznan on the grounds of alleged "sabotage" attempts by Moscow in Poland and allied countries.
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