Pro-Ukraine demonstrators on Monday protested a visit to the island of Oleron off France’s west coast by Russia’s ambassador to Paris, who paid tribute to four Soviet nationals who fought alongside the French during World War II.
The visit by Russian ambassador Alexei Meshkov to the cemetery in Saint-Pierre-Oleron came as Russia’s war against Ukraine drags through its fourth year, with millions forced to flee their homes and tens of thousands killed in Europe’s worst conflict since World War II.
Meshkov laid flowers at two white gravestones, the final resting place of four Soviet nationals who joined the French resistance during World War II. The graves feature red stars that symbolise the Red Army, and the hammer and sickle.
Earlier on Monday, around 30 pro-Ukraine demonstrators protested the visit, holding Ukrainian flags and a sign reading “Cursed be war!”
During the ambassador’s visit later in the day police kept a smaller group of protesters away from the Russian delegation to prevent any incidents.
Meshkov travelled to the cemetery after the Russian authorities restored the monument, which Russia’s embassy said had until recently been in a “state of neglect”.
Michel Parent, head of the local federation of municipalities, said he saw “no problem with people coming to salute the Russian soldiers”.
“What I do have a problem with is the ambassador’s visit,” he told AFP.
“I want to say no to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. Today it’s Ukraine, tomorrow it will be Europe.”
Olga Gaillard-Bazilesko, head of Oleron for Ukraine, a local association, said the Russian ambassador “has no business being here today”.
“Who’s next? Is Putin going to come?” she said. “Russia has no place in Europe. Their place is in the international court.”
Meshkov dismissed the protest.
“The memory of those who liberated this island must be sacred to the island’s inhabitants,” he said.
According to a commemorative plaque at the cemetery, around 30 “Soviet nationals, who were in fact Ukrainian”, were enlisted by the German occupation army and “sent to the Western Front” before joining French resistance fighters who helped liberate Oleron in April 1945.
Under Putin, victory in what Russians call the Great Patriotic War has been raised to cult status, with officials stressing the importance of maintaining Soviet war graves.
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