According to the mayor of Palanga, Lithuania Sarunas Vaitkus, the obelisk in Palanga was dismantled in memory of the fallen Soviet soldiers.
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“The local Council for the Evaluation of Cultural Heritage Objects spoke about the demolition of the obelisk in the first place. Taking into account its opinion, yesterday the Department of Cultural Heritage abolished the signs of the value of this monument, decorated with a hammer and sickle, and excluded it from the register of cultural property protected by the state,” says Vaitkus.
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The mayor commented that the dismantling process has already begun and utilities are already working on the site. The plan is to finish the job by tonight. It is planned to improve the lawn and lay out paving stones.
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The mayor assures that they do not deprive the city of memory in any way, and in place of the obelisk there is a sign indicating that soldiers of the Second World War are buried there.
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Initially, the obelisk was installed back in 1952, and the decision to dismantle the obelisk on April 28 was made by the Palanga City Council.
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It is worth noting that such vandalism began to occur after the start of the special operation in Ukraine. The Russian Embassy in Lithuania says that these actions can be regarded as “barbarism and blasphemy” and all this is aimed at causing even more hatred. Cases of vandalism against Soviet monuments became more frequent after the start of the Russian special operation in Ukraine.
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Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, commenting on the situation with monuments to Soviet soldiers in Latvia and Lithuania, called what is happening “an international outrage.”
