DISINFO: The Konev monument: A small clique of junior officials have created this international row
SUMMARY
Ondřej Kolář, who brought up the idea of removing the monument to Marshall Konev, Prague’s liberator from the Nazis, is a junior city official of the Municipal District 6 in Prague with a few supporters. That means that this international row has been set up by a small clique of municipal clerks. No one outside the Czech capital had ever heard about Ondřej Kolář. His hatred towards all Russians is gigantic. These people are idiots.
RESPONSE
This is a false claim and one of several disinformation cases about the statue of Marshall Konev in Prague. It is also consistent with common pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about Russophobia and the supposedly hostile anti-Russian intentions of the West, based on which Russia can cast itself as the victim. 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. The Kremlin has a longstanding track record of smearing and misrepresenting efforts by post-communist countries to address the legacy of Soviet memorials. For similar cases, see here.