Since Putin Began His Expanded War in Ukraine, Russians have Destroyed 17 Memorials to Poles Repressed in USSR

Paul Goble
    Staunton, Dec. 13 – In the almost three years since Putin began his expanded war in Ukraine, Russians, sometimes officials and sometimes unnamed “vandals” have destroyed at least 17 monuments erected earlier in memory of Poles who were repressed in either Russia or the USSR.
    The fact that such actions have occurred in so many places across the Russian Federation suggests that they have been inspired if not directly ordered by officials who have been angered by Warsaw’s support of Ukraine against the Russian invasion (pointmedia.io/story/675c18313d97a5c1c5781f0f).
    According to activists like Kseniya Sergeyeva of the Yabloko Party branc in Nizhny Novgorod, there is evidence of even more direct official encouragement. Equipment used to destroy the monuments comes on vehicles without license plates, something that would be unlikely if they weren’t being used by Russian government agencies.