Vandals deface Marshal Konev monument in eastern Slovakia

On Friday, unknown vandals damaged a monument to Soviet Marshal Ivan Konev in eastern Slovakia and splashed it with paint. The sculptor and the Slovak Union of Anti-Fascist Fighters (SZPB), which recently unveiled the sculpture, reported the incident.

It is not the first incident involving the monument: the non-parliamentary party Democrats announced earlier this week that it had covered the statue with a sheet, and criticized Konev. According to the union, someone has now smashed the memorial plaque and written "Gyilkos," Hungarian for "murderer," on the pedestal in red paint. "We consider such acts unacceptable vandalism, desecration of a war memorial and disrespect for the history of Slovakia's liberation," the SZPB wrote. It added that the destruction of military monuments cannot be justified by political views, ideological differences or a different view of historical events.

Police complaint and a Hungarian lead

The union and the sculptor, Slavomír Hibej, announced that they are filing a criminal complaint over the incident. In the SZPB's view, the latest attack may have been prompted by earlier actions of the Democrats and by remarks from some opposition politicians that Konev's statue should be removed after a change of government in Slovakia.

Hibej wrote on social media that surveillance camera footage shows a car with Hungarian license plates at the scene. Today also marks 70 years since the anti-Soviet uprising in Hungary, which was crushed by Soviet troops led by Konev.

Who Konev was and why the monument is disputed

The SZPB unveiled the sculpture of Konev near the Dukla Pass in early October, on the anniversary of the Carpathian-Dukla Operation. In October 1944, Soviet and Czechoslovak soldiers fought Nazi German forces in the area. Konev commanded that operation, which cost tens of thousands of lives.

He also commanded Soviet troops in the eastern part of Berlin when the eastern communist regime began building a wall between the city's western and eastern sectors. In 1968, a few months before the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia, Konev provided cover for Soviet agents' reconnaissance during a visit to Prague.

This month, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova praised Slovakia for unveiling the Konev statue at Dukla. She contrasted the Slovak approach with "barbarism in Czechia," where the statue of the marshal that had stood in Prague for many years was removed in 2020.

Around Prague, based on reporting by seznamzpravy.cz