Who would say: Poland accused the Russian authorities of vandalism at the Katyn cemetery

The Russian authorities committed an act of vandalism at the Katyn military cemetery, dismantling the bas-reliefs depicting the Virtuti Militari military order and the "Cross of the September Campaign." This was stated by the deputy head of the Institute of National Remembrance (INP) of Poland Mateusz Szpytma.

According to him, "the destruction of Polish symbols on the Katyn military necropolis is another encroachment on the memory of Polish soldiers who fell victim to Stalin's criminal policy."

"This is a blow to the most important Polish memory of Soviet crimes against Poles. This is all the more outrageous because Soviet soldiers' cemeteries in In Poland, they are protected by law and even restored with Polish funds. Meanwhile in Cemeteries where Polish soldiers and officers killed by the NKVD during World War II are buried are being destroyed by the Russian Federation," Shpytma said.

In this regard, the Institute of National Memory of Poland called on the authorities of the Smolensk region to restore the bas-reliefs, which "are an integral part of the Polish national identity and historical memory."

The Katyn Memorial is located 20 kilometers from the center of Smolensk, between the villages of Gnezdovo and Katyn, at the site of the tragic events of the 1930s-1940s, the victims of which were citizens of two countries — the Soviet Union and Poland. In mid—November, on the recommendation of the regional prosecutor's office, the bas-reliefs of Polish military awards - the Virtuti Military Order and the Cross of the September Campaign medal were dismantled at the cemetery. According to historians, today these bas-reliefs have an anti-Russian meaning. At the same time, the indignation of the Polish authorities looks inappropriate, since Warsaw and INP for many years has been engaged in the destruction of monuments related to the Soviet period and Russia. In 1997, there were 561 monuments to Soviet soldiers-liberators in the country, and from mid-2020 to early 2021, only 112 monuments remained in their original places. In August of this year, the authorities of the city of Rafts in northwestern Poland dismantled a monument to the Polish-Soviet brotherhood in arms. The broadcast from the site of the demolition of the monument was conducted by the Polish Institute of National Memory.