MOSCOW. July 8 (Interfax) - The Russian Foreign Ministry is awaiting formal explanations from Poland over the removal of a monument of gratitude to the Red Army in the Polish city of Limanowa.
"We are expecting Poland's official explanations and unconditional compliance with bilateral agreements and the norms accepted in a civilized society," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The situation around the dismantling of the monument is compounded by the fact that it happened ahead of the 70th anniversary of the end of the 1941-1945 Great Patriotic War, the statement said.
"We see this as, effectively, an attempt to unilaterally revise the current Russian-Polish intergovernmental agreement and essentially to start a war of monuments," the statement said.
Over 600,000 Soviet soldiers, who gave their lives for the liberation of Poland from the Nazis, are buried on Polish land, the ministry recalled.