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Russians lower Polish flag from Katyn cemetery – Warsaw protest

Poland is set to send a message to Russia following the removal of the last Polish flag from Katyn Cemetery, which commemorates Polish soldiers killed by Soviet forces in 1940, the government announced today.

An estimated 22,000 soldiers and intellectuals were killed in Katyn, near Smolensk in western Russia, some of whom were transported by trucks from concentration camps, shot in the back of the head and thrown into mass graves.

After blaming Nazi Germany for the Katyn massacre for decades, the Soviet Union acknowledged in April 1990 that its forces were responsible for the massacre, casting a heavy shadow over Russia’s relations with Poland.

More than 4,000 Polish prisoners of war are buried in the cemetery, which is managed by the Russian authorities.

On Friday, Smolensk Mayor Andrei Borisov posted a photo with two masts – one carrying the Russian flag and the other empty with a ladder resting on it – saying the Polish flag had been removed.

“There can be no Polish flags in Russian monuments! … I believe that the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation has made the only right decision – to remove the Polish flag. Katyn is a Russian monument, it is the history of Russia,” he wrote. Borisov.

The move escalates tensions in relations between the two countries following Poland’s leadership role against the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

“At the moment, a (diplomatic) announcement is being made, which will be submitted to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Marcin Pridacs told Polish state radio today.

“We will try to intervene at the political level, but … I am not overly optimistic about the actions of the Russian side. The Russian side is rather aggressive in its foreign policy,” he added.

The Russian Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Source: ΑΠΕ-ΜΠΕ

Source: Capital

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