MOSCOW. Dec 21 (Interfax-AVN) - Moscow has described the demolition of a World War II memorial in Kutaisi as an act of state vandalism.
"A monument to the warriors of the Great Patriotic War has been barbarically blasted in Kutaisi. Thus the Georgian authorities committed an act of state vandalism insulting the feelings of any civilized persons," a Russian Foreign Ministry statement released on Monday says.
"The vandalism committed in Kutaisi is another shameful deed of the current leadership in Tbilisi in its obsessive determination to wipe out the historical memory of its own people," the statement says.
The ministry says that by destroying the monument the Georgian authorities ignored the protests of the public, in particular the protests of Georgian veterans.
"Moreover, it is a challenge to the entire international community that just recently in a UN General Assembly resolution expressed its concern about the continues attempts to insult or destroy monuments commemorating those who fought against Nazism during World War II," the statement says.