30.10.2017, Russia.
The Russian Foreign Ministry is outraged by the desecration of the monument to Soviet soldiers in Sofia and believes that effective measures will be taken to identify and punish offenders desecrating the memorial, a press release published on the Ministry’s website on October 30 states.
“We are outraged by yet another act of vandalism towards a Soviet Army monument in central Sofia, Bulgaria. Several days ago, the figures of soldiers on one of the bas-reliefs of the sculpture were painted yellow, and offensive words were written on the landmark,” the Ministry’s press release reads.
The desecration of Soviet monuments in Bulgaria, like in many other countries of Eastern Europe, occurs with suspicious regularity. For example, in March 2017, the monument to Soviet soldiers in Bulgarian Plovdiv became a subject of vandalism. Vandals daubed swastikas and nationalist slogans, one of which proclaimed: “Bulgaria Above All” on the Alyosha Monument.
In April 2015, the monument to Soviet soldier-liberators in Sofia has been desecrated once again. Unidentified people graffitied the pedestal with inscriptions stating that the monument must be dismantled. Notably, the slogans “Lustration. Dismantlement” on the monument were in yellow and blue colors.
In June 2011, the same monument had already been desecrated. At that time, one of the bas-reliefs of the monument was spray-painted so as to portray the figures of the soldier-liberators as characters of American comics.
Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency
