A monument to the victims of Nazi terror in World War II in the Paneriai neighborhood of Vilnius was defaced for the third time in one month, Lithuanian police said on Thursday, adding that the letter V, associated with Russia's military operation in Ukraine, was painted on the memorial
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st April, 2022) A monument to the victims of Nazi terror in World War II in the Paneriai neighborhood of Vilnius was defaced for the third time in one month, Lithuanian police said on Thursday, adding that the letter V, associated with Russia's military operation in Ukraine, was painted on the memorial.
Two previous cases of vandalism took place on March 31 and April 3, when the letters V and Z were spray-painted on the Paneriai memorial.
"On April 20, it was noticed that two Latin letters V ... were painted on the Paneriai Memorial monument in Vilnius, Agrastu Street ... Circumstances are being determined," the police department said.
In 1941, Paneriai, then a village and not incorporated into the Lithuanian capital, was where Nazis executed tens of thousands of people. This is the largest Nazi mass murder site in Lithuania. According to some estimates, Nazis and their Lithuanian collaborators killed up to 100,000 people here, including 70,000 Jews. A memorial was erected at the site of the tragedy in 1948, with a museum opened in 1960.
Since the start of the Russian military operation on February 24, Soviet World War II memorials have been vandalized across the country. Earlier this week, the Lithuanian parliament banned public displays of the letters V and Z, and the black and orange ribbon of Saint George, another Russian military symbol.
