Moscow comments on ‘unsettling’ theft of Pushkin monument in Germany (PHOTOS)
The recent theft of a bronze monument to iconic Russian poet Alexander Pushkin in Germany has sparked concerns in Moscow that state-backed efforts aimed at eradicating Russian culture in Eastern Europe are spilling over into other countries.
The crime occurred sometime between last Friday and Saturday, according to the administration of Hemer, a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, which on Tuesday offered €1,000 ($1,140) for information leading to the arrest of the perpetrators.
The Russian Embassy called the theft “unsettling,” stressing that the monument “has for years served as a symbol of the importance of Russian cultural legacy in Germany.” Diplomats from the Russian Consulate General in Bonn and members of the Russian-German community visited the site in the town park last month.
The monument was a gift from Shchyolkovo, Hemer’s sister town in Russia, and was created by local artist Grigory Pototsky. It was unveiled in September 1994.
Images from the scene showed an empty stone base with the remains of the steel framework that used to support the poet’s statue. Hemer officials said its sheer weight suggests that several individuals had to use power tools and an escape vehicle to steal it.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Thursday that the incident echoed the “war on monuments” in Poland and the Baltic states, aimed at removing sculptures dedicated to the Soviet contribution to the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, as well as the Ukrainian government’s crackdown on Russian culture.
“One hopes the [Pushkin] monument will be found and returned to its place. Otherwise, German officials who encourage Russophobia would be condemning themselves,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.
Moscow views the campaigns in Eastern Europe to remove Russian wartime monuments as part of an attempted rehabilitation of local Nazi collaborators.
In Ukraine, mass vandalism and the removal of monuments after the 2014 Western-backed coup initially targeted Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin. However, it has since grown into a state-backed purge of Russian cultural landmarks, such as the monument to Catherine II and her royal aides in Odessa in 2022 and the statue of writer Mikhail Bulgakov in Kiev earlier this year.
Dozens of monuments to Pushkin have been dismantled throughout Ukraine as part of the campaign.
