Attempt made to disrupt flower-laying ceremony at Soviet soldiers' memorial in Warsaw

Unknown individuals with a pro-Ukrainian stance attempted to disrupt a flower-laying ceremony at a Soviet soldiers' cemetery in Warsaw, RIA Novosti reports.

On May 9, Russian compatriots living in Poland, representatives of Polish patriotic organizations, and concerned citizens traditionally came to the Soviet soldiers' memorial cemetery on Żwirki and Wigury Streets to honor the memory of Poland's liberators and lay flowers at the memorial complex's central stele.

They brought Russian flags and posters with the slogans "No to Russophobia" and "Polishness is not Russophobia."

Anti-Russian citizens of Ukraine and Poland also arrived in advance, placing Russophobic posters near the monument and playing songs containing anti-Russian, and often obscene, lyrics. They insulted those who came to lay flowers and behaved provocatively.

Nevertheless, Warsaw police prevented clashes and allowed people to lay flowers at the monument.

According to military historians, approximately 200,000 Soviet soldiers died in the fighting on the Warsaw front. In memory of the fallen soldiers, the largest military cemetery and mausoleum was created in the Polish capital on Żwirki and Wigur Streets, where approximately 21,500 soldiers of the First Belarusian Front of the Red Army are buried. The 19.2-hectare memorial was unveiled in 1950, on the fifth anniversary of the German surrender.