Vilnius lodged a protest with Russia on Thursday over the demolition of a memorial stone to deportees in the Siberian city of Tomsk on April 19.
Alongside the Lithuanian memorial, plaques commemorating deportees from Estonia, Kalmykia, Latvia and Poland were also removed from the square, as well as the Stone of Mourning dedicated to victims of Bolshevik terror.
The heads of the Estonian, Latvian, Polish and Lithuanian embassies in Moscow also sent a joint protest letter to the Russian foreign ministry on Wednesday.
The Lithuanian monument, created by sculptor Tadas Gutauskas, was erected in 2016 with Lithuanian state funding in a memorial park for victims of political repression in Tomsk.
Lithuania’s Foreign Ministry noted that this is not the first time memorials to victims of the Stalinist regime have been removed in Russia.
“Lithuania views this as an attempt to distort historical truth and to show contempt for the memory of the victims of the Soviet totalitarian regime,” the ministry said in a statement.
In its diplomatic note, Lithuania demanded that Russia explain the reasons for the incident and take immediate steps to restore the memorial.
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