Konev Monument Removal Is No Reason To Revise Moscow-Prague Friendship Deal - Diplomat

Moscow does not see the demolition of the monument to Soviet Marshal Ivan Konev in Prague as a reason for revising the 1993 Russian-Czech agreement on friendship and cooperation, Russian Foreign Ministry's Third European Department Director Oleg Tyapkin told Sputnik in an interview

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th January, 2021) Moscow does not see the demolition of the monument to Soviet Marshal Ivan Konev in Prague as a reason for revising the 1993 Russian-Czech agreement on friendship and cooperation, Russian Foreign Ministry's Third European Department Director Oleg Tyapkin told Sputnik in an interview.

The diplomat stressed that the Czech Republic violated the bilateral deal when it dismantled the statue in April 2020.

"We have repeatedly drawn Prague's attention to this, including when we invited it to hold bilateral consultations in the summer of 2020. Unfortunately, the consultations have not been held yet. We expect our Czech partners to offer a reasonable compromise, which will become an adequate solution to the problem, which was created not by us ... We are not inclined to perceive the situation as a reason for revising the 1993 treaty, which is a basic document for the modern Russian-Czech relations.

We see it as a basis for seeking solutions that both sides would be satisfied with and that would stay within the existing legal field," Tyapkin said.

The bilateral relations took a turn for the worse when authorities of the Prague-6 district removed the monument to Marshal Konev. According to the district authorities, the monument will be later installed in the museum of the history of the 20th century that is under construction. Moscow, which qualified the move as "outrageous and cynical," said it would prefer to see the monument restored either in the Czech Republic or in Russia. The Russian Investigative Committee launched a criminal case on the desecration of the symbols of the Russian military glory. Czech President Milos Zeman called the dismantlement of the monument a stupid thing done by "unremarkable" municipal politicians.