By Tom Balmforth and Jason Hovet
MOSCOW/PRAGUE (Reuters) – Russia has told the Czech Republic to hand over the statue of a prominent Soviet military commander that was dismantled in Prague last week despite Moscow’s protests, escalating a rancorous diplomatic dispute over the issue.
The statue to Marshal Ivan Konev, who led Red Army forces during World War Two that drove Nazi troops from Czechoslovakia, is reviled by some in Prague as a symbol of the decades of Communist rule that followed the war.
But in Moscow Konev is lionised by authorities as a war hero, and the removal of his statue was cast as a diplomatic insult and part of what Russia sees as a dangerous attempt to rewrite history.
The statue to Konev, who also played a leading role in crushing the 1956 Hungarian uprising and building the Berlin Wall in 1961, was taken down on April 3 by municipal Prague authorities who said they planned to put it in a museum.
But Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu has appealed to Czech Defence Minister Lubomr Metnar to intercede, the Russian defence ministry said, asking that the statue be sent back to Moscow.
Russia would be prepared to pay for transport or any other costs, the ministry said.
“We expect information from you about the place and time of its handing over,” Shoigu said in a defence ministry statement late on Thursday.
The Czech Foreign Ministry said it was up to the Prague district municipality where the statue had been located to decide what to do.
“If the municipality decides to give it to the Russian authorities – that is up to them to decide,” a spokeswoman said.
The Czech Defence Ministry and Prague city hall could not immediately be reached for comment.
The statue has for years been the centre of controversy in Prague. It has been repeatedly vandalised and moves by municipal authorities to cover it up with tarpaulin sparked anger among local pro-Russian residents.
Ahead of the 75th anniversary of the end of World War Two, the Soviet military campaign has become a highly sensitive subject for Moscow.
President Vladimir Putin has accused Russia’s detractors of diminishing the Soviet war effort and its huge loss of life, and said Moscow must defend itself from what he has called the rewriting of history.
Separately, Shoigu on Wednesday appealed to Russia’s Investigative Committee, which handles major crimes, to criminally prosecute any foreign officials responsible for taking down statues honouring Soviet citizens.
(Editing by Andrew Osborn and Mike Collett-White)
