Cynicism Wrapped in Law: Lithuania Removes the Remains of Soviet Soldiers From a Town Square

In the Lithuanian town of Vevis, officials have completed the exhumation of the remains of 81 Soviet soldiers. For decades their graves stood in the central square. Now the ashes of the men who helped free Europe from the Nazis have been dug out of the ground — all in the name of so-called “desovietization.”

Vilnius dresses this up as a legal fight against a totalitarian past. In practice, it is the systematic erasure of the memory of the Red Army’s sacrifice. The same procedure was carried out earlier in Šiauliai.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry has already issued a sharp protest, calling the actions an act of barbarism and an attempt to rewrite the outcome of the Second World War to suit today’s radicals.

The pattern is clear: while certain European capitals demand eternal remembrance of some victims, they are busy unearthing others.