February 25th 2023.
(Image Source: https://metro.co.uk) The broken plaque on the monument of the Soviet Army in Sofia, Bulgaria
A monument devoted to the Red Army in Bulgaria was desecrated on the anniversary of the war in Ukraine.
Pictures reveal the plaque of the memorial with the inscription ‘to the Soviet Army, liberator of the grateful Bulgarian nation’ smashed and stained with red paint.
Blossoms of flowers can be seen scattered at the area in the middle of Sofia, which is a well-known spot for protest activities.
Local media declared police have apprehended a 61-year-old man, who is thought to have ruined the plaque with a hammer, and he has since been charged.
(Image Source: https://metro.co.uk) The Red Army monument has been a continuing source of dispute between Russophiles and others in Bulgaria, who want it taken down
Thursday’s attack was straight away rebuked by the Russian ambassador to Bulgaria, Eleonora Mitrofanova.
Hours later, the Russian Embassy in Sofia issued a statement, criticising vandals for ‘insulting the feat of the Soviet warriors who emancipated Bulgaria from Nazism’.
The Facebook post read: ‘We are sorry to inform you that today, on the Defender of the Fatherland Day, the monument of the Soviet Army in Sofia has yet again become a casualty of blind aggression and impudence.
‘With their blasphemous act, the vandals not only disparaged the feat of the Soviet warriors who liberated Bulgaria from Nazism, but also thousands of their anti-fascists who gave their lives to keep Bulgarians free, and that there is no place for the “brown plague” in the world.
(Image Source: https://metro.co.uk) A man measuring the broken plaque on the monument
‘The consistent endeavour of re-writing the past, erasing the Soviet Union’s role in defeating Nazi Germany, demonizing everything Russian could have yielded no other outcome than educating generations to whom nothing is holy.
‘We urge the Bulgarian authorities to promptly take measures to eliminate the repercussions of the crime against memory, punish the guilty and put a stop to the shameful practice of distorting our common history.’
On the eve of the one-year anniversary of the war in Ukraine, a plaque at the monument of the Soviet Army in Sofia, Bulgaria was vandalised and covered in red paint. Wreaths of flowers lay scattered at the scene, and a 61-year-old man was arrested in connection to the incident. The attack has been met with swift condemnation from the Russian ambassador to Bulgaria, Eleonora Mitrofanova, as well as a statement from the Russian Embassy in Sofia, expressing regret at the 'insulting the feat of the Soviet warriors who freed Bulgaria from Nazism'. It was suggested that the act was a result of 'rewriting the past, erasing the Soviet Union's role in defeating Nazi Germany, demonizing everything Russian'. The Embassy called for the Bulgarian authorities to 'take measures to eliminate the consequences of the crime against memory, punish the guilty and stop the shameful practice of distorting our common history'.
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