Russia expresses fury over memorial vandalism in Norwegian borderland, after monument repairs
The Russian Embassy in Oslo has sent a diplomatic note to Norway’s Foreign Ministry condemning the desecration of a monument honoring fallen Soviet soldiers in Neiden earlier this winter. The protest comes weeks after the monument was repaired, and just two days before Russian diplomats in Norway are due to commemorate Victory Day on 9 May.
The monument, erected by local Norwegians, is one of two standing side by side commemorating Soviet soldiers killed during the liberation of Norway’s northeastern border region from Nazi German occupation in October 1944.
Neiden is located about 40 kilometres west of Kirkenes in Sør-Varanger, the municipality bordering Russia’s Murmansk region.
On March 1, local police were notified that the roughly three-metre-tall monument had been vandalized. An investigation was carried out, but the case has been closed without identifying any suspects, police confirmed to Barents Observer.
However, Moscow’s diplomats in Oslo are not satisfied with the police decision to close the case.
In the note to the Foreign Ministry, the Embassy is “demanding that law enforcement agencies take immediate action to find and punish those responsible.”
The local Sør-Varanger municipality started to repair the monument as soon as the winter snow had melted and the memorial has now been re-erected.
The Russian Embassy’s protest was first reported by RIA Novosti and has since received broad coverage in Moscow-based media on Thursday.
Russian ceremony in Kirkenes
Russia’s Consulate General in Kirkenes has announced that it intends to hold a ceremony at the war memorial in the town on 9 May, which is celebrated in Russia as Victory Day.
Police will monitor the event and have stated that surveillance cameras will be in place as a preventive measure to avoid disturbances or vandalism of the flowers to be laid.
Last year on 9 May, a local Russian man attended the commemoration carrying a flag featuring the symbol of the Wagner Group, while also recording video messages addressed to Russian soldiers in Ukraine.
In 2023, Russia’s Foreign Ministry summoned Norway’s ambassador to Moscow following another incident at the war memorial in Kirkenes.
The ministry alleged that the then mayor of Sør-Varanger, Magnus Mæland, had committed an “act of vandalism” and accused him of “Russophobia, disrespect, and infringement of the memory of warriors and liberators.” The claim referred to Mæland having moved a Russian wreath a few centimetres to the side to make space for both Norwegian and Russian wreaths at the memorial.
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