Part of the Slavin military monument in Bratislava dedicated to Soviet troops killed during WWII has been damaged by an unknown perpetrator, who painted the steps and pillars of the monument along with the space in front of it blue and yellow, Bratislava region police spokesman Michal Szeiff told TASR on Thursday, adding that the police have launched a criminal investigation in this connection.
Meanwhile, the Russian Embassy expressed outrage at the incident, claiming that a site of reverence has been "desecrated" and demanding that the monument be restored to its original form in accordance with a Slovak-Russian inter-governmental agreement of 1995 concerning the graves of fallen soldiers and civilian victims of war.
In reaction to that, the Slovak Foreign Ministry reminded the Russian Embassy that the Slovak Republic has been taking exemplary care of graves and memorials to Russian soldiers and paying the utmost respect to them.
However, the ministry also asked the Russian embassy in Bratislava to face up to reality. "And that is this huge civic solidarity with Ukraine, which has been groundlessly attacked by Russia, which in addition to violating international law has been trampling the memory of Ukrainians who fought for freedom alongside Russians in 1945," said the ministry.
Source: TASR
