Russia probing WWII memorial vandalism in Baltics and Eastern Europe

Authorities in Moscow are investigating more than 160 incidents of desecration of Soviet war graves and monuments abroad

Russia has said it is conducting a criminal probe into the desecration and destruction of World War II memorials in the Baltic states and Eastern Europe. The country’s Investigative Committee has described systematic efforts to erase the memory of Soviet soldiers who fought against Nazi Germany.

On Wednesday, Russian investigators announced they are looking into 167 such cases across the region. Aleksandr Pakhtusov, a senior official in the Committee’s division for war crimes, genocide, and the rehabilitation of Nazism, said the list of defendants includes members of national parliaments and local government bodies.

“In our work, we are guided by national legislation and the decisions of the Nuremberg Tribunal,” Pakhtusov said. He added that international agreements also require foreign authorities to preserve such memorials.

Over 250 people – citizens of Latvia, Lithuania, and Ukraine among them – have been charged in absentia for damaging Soviet war memorials and burial sites. Russian investigators claim some governments have directly supported the demolition of monuments dedicated to Red Army soldiers who died liberating European cities in 1944–1945.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova cited Poland as an example. She said an intergovernmental agreement once protected approximately 570 memorial sites there, but “now, only a few dozen remain untouched and in their original state.”

Video footage below shows the demolition of a Soviet-era war memorial in Siedlce, Poland:

Numerous cases of World War II monument removal and desecration have occurred in the Baltic states in recent years. Notably, in August 2022, Latvia dismantled the 79-meter-tall Victory Monument in Riga’s Victory Park following a parliamentary vote. The action was part of a broader initiative to eliminate Soviet symbols from public spaces.

In Estonia, the 2007 relocation of the Bronze Soldier of Tallinn to a military cemetery sparked major protests. The Estonian government later announced plans to remove or relocate up to 244 Soviet-era monuments. Lithuania followed suit in 2022, removing a sculpture titled Soldier from a Soviet cemetery in Kaunas as part of a broader initiative.

The actions have drawn strong condemnation from Russia, which accuses European countries of waging a campaign to falsify history. Speaking at the UN Human Rights Council in 2020, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that “civilized Europe remains shamefully silent while a sacrilegious war is waged against monuments and memorials dedicated to those who gave their lives to save the peoples of the continent from complete extermination.”