Sergiy Andreev arrived at the cemetery by limousine around 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, to mark Russia’s World War II Victory Day, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
Flanked by security guards, the Russian envoy attempted to lay a red wreath at the cemetery’s monument To the memory of Soviet Army soldiers fallen in liberating Poland from German occupation in the years 1944–1945, according to officials.
However, he was prevented from doing so by Ukrainian campaigners from the Euromaidan group, and by refugees from Ukraine, who surrounded him and refused to let him pass, the PAP news agency reported.
The anti-war protesters also set up a line of Ukrainian flags outside the entrance to the Soviet Military Cemetery, accompanied by crosses with the names of victims of Russia’s war on Ukraine and mock-ups of buildings from war-ravaged Ukrainian cities such as Bucha and Bakhmut, according to news outlets.
There was a considerable police presence at the site, both plainclothes and uniformed officers, to protect public order, the PAP news agency reported.
Unable to reach the monument, Andreev laid the flowers in front of the Ukrainian flags, which were flying on small poles dug into the ground, according to reports.
The anti-war activists trampled on the ambassador’s flowers and stuck the Russian flag which had been attached to them into a mock-up of a rocket, the PAP news agency reported.
After Andreev left the site, a group of people carrying red-and-white flags and a banner of “an association of heirs to Polish World War II veterans” laid flowers at the Soviet Military Cemetery and sang the Polish anthem, according to PAP.
On May 9, 2022, Andreev was splashed with red paint by an anti-war activist as he attempted to mark Russia’s Victory Day by laying wreaths at the graves of Soviet soldiers at the cemetery in the Polish capital.
Tuesday is day 440 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, Polsat News