Warsaw [Poland], May 7 (ANI/Sputnik): The Russian embassy in Poland had to limit the number of people invited to the Victory Day celebrations to senior diplomatic personnel due to widespread calls for violence against the attendees, Russian Ambassador to Poland Sergey Andreev told Sputnik on Saturday.
The Russian diplomatic mission planned to hold the Immortal Regiment march and lay wreaths at the Soviet Military Cemetery on Zwirki and Wigury street in Warsaw in an open format but had to reconsider it amid public outcry.
“When the May 9 event at the cemetery was announced, the internet unleashed a torrent of calls for protest actions [against the Victory Day events], including physical violence on the part of various so-called activists,” Andreev said.
The ambassador said that the embassy decided against holding the Victory Day events in the planned format for fear of provocations. Instead, the ambassador, his wife, and senior Russian diplomats will come to the cemetery and lay wreaths to commemorate the victory over Nazi Germany in 1945.
Earlier this week, the Russian Embassy in Warsaw informed the Polish Foreign Ministry of the plans to hold May 9 celebrations in the capital and urged the authorities to ensure public safety during the event. A public backlash followed, with the mayor of Warsaw Rafal Trzaskowski going so far as to say that “the celebration of the aggressor” should be banned altogether.
In turn, Polish Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Marcin Przydacz said on social media that Poland “did not plan to provide support to the embassy of the Russian Federation and will not provide such support,” noting that the Warsaw mayor has the final say in the matter of holding the celebration. (ANI/Sputnik)