- Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, and Poland are already working to remove the monuments that remind us of the USSR.

- Crimea, the lever of the new strategy of Kyiv in the war: a 'boomerang' to try to undermine Moscow

Fall of the Monument to Friendship between Russia and Ukraine, in Kyiv, after the start of the war.

Europe erases Soviet traces as 'revenge' against Putin: "It has changed its meaning"

Does the past always come back? Perhaps yes, but in some cases to be erased. That is the process that some countries - all of them the EU Member States - are following against Vladimir Putin with a kind of revenge that goes beyond economic sanctions or institutional isolation. It goes through erasing the Soviet footprint left by the years after World War II. These are maneuvers that are taking place above all in the Baltic countries, but the debate has even opened up in Germany.

In Lithuania, for example, an obelisk in memory of the Soviet soldiers who died in the conflict was removed from the city of Palanga. "This morning Palanga wakes up without symbols of Soviet ideology, the hammer, and sickle. The obelisk with these symbols no longer fits with our temples and has been dismantled," explained the local mayor at the time. For the governments that have taken this step, the situation is clear. This type of symbology is no longer what it was: "It has changed its meaning" after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

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In the capital, Vilnius, six granite sculptures erected in the Antakalnis cemetery in tribute to the fallen of the USSR have also been removed. That place houses the bodies of more than 3,000 Soviet soldiers who fell in combat in 1944, during the battle for the liberation of Vilnius. After the country's independence, many of the graves were moved outside the capital, but now the process continues in another direction due to Putin's maneuvers.

In Estonia and Latvia the same steps are followed, not without controversy. In Riga, for example, the Government has decided to dismantle the obelisk in memory of the Soviet Army that is present in the Victory Park. It is (or was) one of the most important monuments in the Latvian capital, although it has always been shrouded in controversy since its inauguration in 1985 and has lost relevance since the country's independence in 1991. The Latvian Parliament passed a law to 'uninstall it ' and supported this decision "as a way of expressing a position of condemnation against the illegal occupying power, policies, and crimes of both the USSR and Nazi Germany."

What is striking is that Latvia has 26% Russophones, many of whom do not agree with this decision. Such has been the controversy that the Executive has had to prohibit concentrations in the vicinity of the obelisk, especially on May 9 when Russia celebrated -as every year- the Day of Victory over the Nazis. But the Latvian case is far from unique.

My government has decided to remove Soviet monuments from public spaces across #Estonia. As symbols of repressions and Soviet occupation they have become a source of increasing social tensions – at these times, we must keep the risk to public order at a minimum.

— Kaja Kallas (@kajakallas) August 16, 2022

In Estonia, the dynamic is very similar, although in this case, the decision to remove the Soviet monuments is ultimately up to the local governments (although the central Executive is in favor of removal). In Narva, a city bordering Russia with 90% Russophones, the controversy was served. There, at first, it was decided not to remove a statue so as not to cause discomfort among the neighbors, even more so considering that it is a country prone to riots over this type of issue and with a relevant history of diplomatic clashes with Moscow. But the Government has imposed itself: goodbye to the statue for "reasons of public order".

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There his prime minister, Kaja Kallas, has been very outspoken. "My Government has decided to remove Soviet monuments from public spaces. As symbols of Soviet repression and occupation, they have become a source of growing social tensions; at this time, we must keep the risk to public order to a minimum", he wrote on social networks.

Another country that has changed its 'chip' due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine is Finland. Just a few days ago the authorities ordered the Peace in the World monument, donated by the former Soviet Union at the end of the 1980s, to be removed from the center of Helsinki. The piece had historically been the subject of controversy, although in recent months criticism towards the monument has intensified due to the invasion of Ukraine. The monument has been transferred to the capital's art museum. In any case, it has always been mired in trouble since it was placed on the streets of the capital in the early 1990s. It has been vandalized on several occasions, and even in 2010, there was an attempted demolition with a gas cylinder.

One of the most frontal oppositions to the Kremlin has come during these months from Poland. And Warsaw does not want monuments reminiscent of Soviet times in its squares and streets. The Polish position is resounding in this sense and, in addition, it covers more than two hundred symbols that are distributed throughout the country. The solution? Move them to an open-air museum, that is, concentrate them on one point. The Government of Law and Justice had already advocated withdrawal on several occasions, even before the war in Ukraine, but the invasion has turned their intentions into reality. Russia, meanwhile, considers Poland's move "cynical."

But the controversy with the Soviet monuments has even reached Germany. Especially in the east, and to be even more specific in cities like Dresden. And there are conflicting positions. "Today, the tanks in Tiergarten no longer only represent the liberation of Germany from Nazism, but the aggressive territorial border and the war that despises human life," said a CDU deputy, who was met with the refusal of the German Senate, that he still considers the Tiergarten monuments as a "memory to those who fought against Nazism, also Ukrainian soldiers".

Furthermore, an agreement signed in 1990 between the Federal Republic of Germany, the GDR, the United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and France obliges Germany to take care of Soviet monuments like jewels, even though many of them have been vandalized. in the last times. This is the case of Treptow, which houses the bodies of more than 7,000 soldiers. In Dresden, on the other hand, there has been a debate on whether the memorial statue to the Red Army soldier should be removed from the Military History Museum, where it has been for 28 years. "He can't stay," say some politicians.

Meanwhile, Russia responds emphatically. Moscow will study the cases of removal and demolition of these monuments, including also the idea of ​​Denmark doing the same with those in the country. "These illegal actions are directed against the interests of Russia in the field of preserving the historical memory of the activities of the Soviet Union during World War II and the decisive role in the victory over fascism," the Committee of Kremlin investigation. Russia does not want history to change, but it was Putin who seemed to have changed it by launching the invasion of Ukraine.

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