Polish flags have disappeared from the memorials to the victims of Soviet repressions in Katyn, Smolensk Region and Medny, Tver Region, Russia.
Poland's Vice Foreign Minister Marcin Przydacz said the Polish consul in Smolensk asked the Russian authorities for an explanation after Polish flags were removed from the Katyn memorial in the Smolensk region. In addition, the Russian administration ordered to remove the flags from the memorial in Medny, Tver region.Polish Radio informed about this on Saturday, June 25.
The Polish edition reminded that in In 1940, by order of the Kremlin, more than 20 thousand Polish officers were shot in these places. Until the end of the 1980s, the communist authorities of the USSR blamed Nazi Germany for these crimes.
When the documents about the decision of the Politburo of the CPSU to liquidate Polish prisoners of war were made public, the Soviet authorities allowed the creation of memorials and a Museum in memory of the victims of communist crimes in Katyn and Medny. They are managed by the Museum of Modern Russia.
Marcin Przydacz said that the removal of flags for the Polish side is unacceptable.
“The Polish consul in Smolensk went to the cemetery in Katyn and confirmed the fact that the Polish flag was removed from this memorial. He also appealed to the Russian authorities who manage this place, demanding an explanation and pointing out that such actions are completely unacceptable for the Polish side, and at the same time testify to the lack of a civilizational approach to the issue of the memory of the murdered persons. Appropriate respect should be a civilizational standard,” the official said.
The decision to remove Polish flags from Polish graves in Katyn and Medny was made by the Russian Ministry of Culture.
Recall that earlier in the Smolensk region of the Russian Federation a convoy of construction equipment drove up to the Katyn memorial, where Polish soldiers, victims of executions during World War II, are buried. Bulldozers threateningly raised buckets at the commemorative sign.
