According to Russian Foreign Ministry, Russia has issued a strong protest to Poland over the desecration of monuments dedicated to the Soviet Army in the northwestern seaport city of Szczecin.

–

MOSCOW (Sputnik)Russia has issued a strong protest to Poland over the desecration of monuments dedicated to the Soviet Army in the northwestern seaport city of Szczecin and accused authorities of direct encouragement, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Sunday.

"We declare a strong protest to the Polish side. We demand the perpetrators to be found and punished, the monument to be restored to its original appearance, as well as exhaustive measures taken to prevent similar incidents in the future," the ministry said.

Moscow noted the frequency of acts of vandalism toward Soviet-era statues and graveyards in Poland signal implicit compliance or outright incitement by the Polish government.

"The frequency with which acts of vandalism are committed, their cynicism and the fact that they take place with the connivance and even the direct instigation of the Polish authorities give grounds to say that we are dealing with a public policy based on historical revisionism," the ministry added.

Moscow has noticed a growing number of cases dating back to 2014, where monuments to Soviet soldiers in Poland were regularly demolished, dismantled or damaged. Over 600,000 Soviet soldiers died liberating Poland from Nazi forces in World War II.