A large set-up representing Russian atrocities in Ukraine blocked Russia’s Ambassador to Poland, Sergey Andreev’s path as he sought to place a wreath at a Warsaw memorial to Soviet soldiers on Russia’s Victory Day holiday, Tuesday, May 9, 2023.
The installation included hundreds of flapping Ukrainian flags and crosses serving as symbolic grave markers for Ukrainians killed by Russians during the full-scale war launched by Moscow last year.
A pool of fake blood below the crosses underlined the stark message of the protest, which was created by Euromaidan-Warszawa, a citizens’ initiative that supports Ukraine.
The installation also included large mock-ups of bombed buildings and the names of Ukrainian cities where Russia has carried out atrocities against Ukrainians: Bucha, Irpin, Mariupol, Bakhmut.
Organizer Viktoria Pogrebniak said the installation, set up for the day at the entrance to the Red Army memorial site, was meant to fight back against Russian propaganda, and “show the real picture to the world.”
“We are bombed, we are killed, we are raped. We are killed just because we are Ukrainians.”
Viktoria Pogrebniak
Pogrebniak stated that the Ambassador and other Russian diplomats would have to walk over the symbolic corpses of Ukrainians “or will need to go through the bushes,” if they wanted to reach the memorial.
With his path blocked, Ambassador Sergey Andreev instead left a wreath of red carnations in front of the hundreds of Ukrainian flags as loudspeakers blasted the sounds of bombs and air sirens.
The protesters surrounded Andreev and his entourage and yelled “Ruscists,” an insult that combines the words “Russians” and “fascists.”
Andreev Vows To Return Later
Andreev, who was doused with a red liquid at the same place on Victory Day last year, vowed to return later in the day.
As he arrived at the Soviet Military Cemetery in the Polish capital on May 9, 2022, Andreev was met by hundreds of activists opposed to Russia’s war in Ukraine. Red paint was thrown from behind at him before a protester standing beside him threw a big blob of it in his face.
Some Poles also showed up through the morning and did make their way across the symbolic cemetery or through the bushes to reach the Red Army memorial to leave flowers. That triggered the anger of the protesters who denounced them as “provocateurs” serving the Kremlin’s interests.
“They are traitors to Poland,” shouted one activist, Katarzyna Augustynek. She seized a bouquet of white carnations left by a woman and threw it to the ground, triggering an angry exchange with the other woman.
The Red Army soldiers died in the fight against Nazi Germany during World War II. But many Poles also remember how they carried out rapes and other crimes, and they resent the decades of Soviet control that came next for their nation.
The Soviet cemetery is set amid a vast park on the route linking the downtown to the international airport. It is the final resting place of more than 20,000 Red Army soldiers who perished on Polish soil fighting while helping to defeat Nazi Germany.
While Poland has removed some monuments to the Red Army in the decades since it threw off Moscow-backed communist rule, it has allowed the cemetery to remain undisturbed.
Poland threw off Moscow-backed communism in 1989 and today is a strong ally of Ukraine. Poland is supplying weapons to Kyiv and giving refuge to many Ukrainians, and there are very few who actually support Moscow.
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