A memorial to victims of Soviet repressions was demolished at a cemetery in Vladimir, western Russia, according to local media Dovod. The memorial included plaques dedicated to Ukrainian, Lithuanian, and Polish nationals.
Dovod reported that a plaque was dedicated to the former Lithuanian foreign minister and Catholic Archbishop Mečislovas Reinis. He died at a Soviet prison camp together with Klymentiy Sheptytsky from Ukraine and Jan Jankowski from Poland.
Sheptytsky was an archimandrite of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. He was punished for refusing to cooperate with the Soviet authorities. In 1995, he was also declared Righteous Among the Nations for saving Jews during the Holocaust.
Meanwhile, Jankowski was a Polish politician. They were all buried in a mass grave.
According to Dovod, foreign diplomats continued to visit the memorial complex even after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Same as with previously reported cases, it’s unclear who initiated the memorial’s destruction.
However, shortly before its dismantling, pro-Kremlin media published articles criticising the memorial, Dovod reported.
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