Disinfo: Prague committed a crime by removing the Konev monument

Summary

The inability of the Czech central authorities to prevent the regional bureaucrats from breaching the international commitments of the country is baffling. The crime committed in Prague may become a disruption of our bilateral relations and will not remain without a response. […] The removal of the monument was picked on purpose – a month ahead of the 75th anniversary of the Great Victory. The new generation of Czechs has a different priorities, despite the fact that the monument to Marshal Konev was erected by their fathers and grandfathers. They are not rewriting our history, they are betraying their ancestors.

Disproof

This is a recurring disinformation narrative about the statue of Marshall Konev in Prague, seeking to obfuscate the statue's legal status and the grounds for its removal. This disinformation message appeared in the same TV broadcast as the claim that the West in engaged in historical revisionism and attempts to cover up the horrors of genocide. In the dispute over the statue, Russia has argued that under the Czech-Russian mutual agreement of 1993, Czechia is obliged to leave the statue in place on Prague's Interbrigade Square. However, this is an intentionally false and misleading interpretation of the terms of the agreement (full text available here). The monument is municipal property, belonging to city district Prague 6, and the 1993 agreement therefore does not apply to this case. The statue of Konev, erected in 1980, is not a military grave or memorial and therefore it was not protected by international treaties. The democratically elected municipal council of Prague 6 voted for the removal of the statue. Using the protocol of the Politbureau's assembly, Czech historians established that on 8-14 May 1968 Konev chaired the Soviet military delegation sent to Prague to prepare the military invasion of Czechoslovakia. Konev was also chief of the Soviet troops in East Germany during the Berlin wall crisis in 1961. In other words, the Red Army brought not only liberation, but also terror to Czech Republic, as the mayor of Prague 6, Ondřej Kolář, reminded. Kolář said that he respects the role of Konev-led forces in liberating Prague, and the sacrifice of Soviet armies liberating Europe from Nazism. "We will strive for an art competition for a memorial to the liberators of Prague at the end of World War Two instead of the marshal Konev statue," he said before the vote. "At the same time we will secure a dignified - and let me stress that, dignified - placement of this art piece (Konev) in a memorial institution. I think this is a consensual solution we have called for a number of years." The removal of the statue was planned for April 2020 in advance and is not due to coronavirus quarantine. The monument to Marshall Konev was erected in 1980 during the "normalisation" period in communist Czechoslovakia. The leadership of Prague's Municipal District 6, which retains legal ownership of the statue, has voted to move the monument to a museum and replace it with a memorial commemorating Soviet sacrifices in the fight against Hitler in general, and the liberation of Prague in particular. More information available here.

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5-tv.ru
  • Reported in: Issue 192
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 11/04/2020
  • Outlet language(s) Russian
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: Czech Republic
  • Keywords: Historical revisionism
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Disinfo: Dismantling of Soviet monument in Prague violates the Czech Republic's international obligations

By these cynical actions [“public desecration of symbols of Russian military glory” after the statue of a Soviet marshal was unbolted last week in Prague] the Prague municipal authorities have seriously breached the obligations contracted by the Czech Republic. A Czech-Russian treaty of 1993 obliges the Czech Republic to take care of Russian military monuments on its territory. The Committee also denounces the “contempt for the common memory and the history of the struggle of the Soviet people against fascism” on the part of those who had the statue removed. This is an act of vandalism, mockery and violation of all international obligations of the Czech Republic.

Apr 10, 2020
Disproof

This is a recurring disinformation narrative about the statue of Marshall Konev in Prague, seeking to obfuscate the statue's legal status and the grounds for its removal. In the dispute over the statue, Russia has argued that under the Czech-Russian mutual agreement of 1993, Czechia is obliged to leave the statue in place on Prague's Interbrigade Square. However, this is an intentionally false and misleading interpretation of the terms of the agreement (full text available here). The monument is municipal property, belonging to city district Prague 6, and the 1993 agreement therefore does not apply to this case. The statue of Konev, erected in 1980, is not a military grave or memorial and therefore it was not protected by international treaties. The democratically elected municipal council of Prague 6 voted for the removal of the statue. Using the protocol of the Politbureau's assembly, Czech historians established that on 8-14 May 1968 Konev chaired the Soviet military delegation sent to Prague to prepare the military invasion of Czechoslovakia. Konev was also chief of the Soviet troops in East Germany during the Berlin wall crisis in 1961. In other words, the Red Army brought not only liberation, but also terror to Czech Republic, as the mayor of Prague 6, Ondřej Kolář, reminded. Kolář said that he respects the role of Konev-led forces in liberating Prague, and the sacrifice of Soviet armies liberating Europe from Nazism. "We will strive for an art competition for a memorial to the liberators of Prague at the end of World War Two instead of the marshal Konev statue," he said before the vote. "At the same time we will secure a dignified - and let me stress that, dignified - placement of this art piece (Konev) in a memorial institution. I think this is a consensual solution we have called for a number of years.". The removal of the statue was planned for April 2020 in advance and is not due to coronavirus quarantine. The monument to Marshall Konev was erected in 1980 during the "normalisation" period in communist Czechoslovakia. The leadership of Prague's Municipal District 6, which retains legal ownership of the statue, has voted to move the monument to a museum and replace it with a memorial commemorating Soviet sacrifices in the fight against Hitler in general, and the liberation of Prague in particular. More information available here.