Sergey Andreyev, Russia’s ambassador to Poland, could not lay a wreath at the Soviet Military Cemetery in Warsaw to commemorate Victory Day and the end of World War II in Europe. RIA Novosti has published video footage of the crowd surrounding the Russian diplomats and forcing them to leave the memorial site.
The police officers patrolling the cemetery said they had no reason to interfere with the protesters, TASS reports, citing the ambassador’s description of what happened.
In 2022, Polish protesters also kept Andreyev and his retinue from laying flowers at the memorial, chanting “Fascists” and throwing red paint over the ambassador. The Russian Foreign Ministry then demanded that its diplomats be permitted to lay flowers to commemorate Victory Day. Its Polish counterpart, in turn, expressed regret over the incident.