Prague Removes Konev Statue. Russia Promises an “Adequate Reaction”

Prague authorities on Friday said they had removed a controversial Soviet-era statue, despite protests from Moscow, to make way for a World War II memorial.

The news is reported by CT24.

Prague 6 says it will now put the statue into storage after which it will be eventually moved into the capital’s planned Museum of the 20th Century.

Konev is regarded as a hero in Russia for retaking much of Eastern Europe from Nazi German forces during World War II. But many Czechs view him as an enforcer of Soviet rule after the war.

He led Red Army troops that liberated Prague from the Nazis in 1945, but he was also in charge of Operation Whirlwind, which crushed the anti-Soviet Hungarian Uprising of 1956.

The Russian Embassy in Prague sent an official note to the Czech Foreign Ministry saying that “the dismantlement of the statue will not be left without the Russian side’s appropriate response.”

Last August, the statue was covered in red paint by unnamed vandals. Prague city hall then covered up the statue, but pro-Konev protesters tore down the tarp and held a rally in its support.

The monument was similarly abused many times before.

Marshal Kove statue was originally unveiled during the Victory Day celebrations on May 9, 1980.