Overview
- Maria Zakharova issued the appeal at an international conference in St. Petersburg held in the run-up to the 80th Victory anniversary.
- She asked for more active participation by officials from CIS countries in protecting shared memorials across Europe.
- She said Russian representatives now mostly shoulder the defense of these sites and urged states to unite in their efforts.
- She accused several European countries of trying to erase reminders of the Red Army’s liberating role and of destroying obelisks that local residents once erected on meager means.
- She said Russia is drawing on archival records to show that dismantling such monuments insults the memory of all Soviet war dead, including Ukrainians and other nationalities.