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Military operation in Ukraine

Russian MFA slams idea of exchanging remains of Russian Empire’s PM for POWs

Maria Zakharova recalled there had been many examples of how Ukraine "trades in holy shrines and relics and how it sends them abroad"

MOSCOW, February 14. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has described Kiev's proposal to exchange Ukrainian POWs for the remains of Pyotr Stolypin, the Russian Empire’s prime minister from 1906-1911, buried on the territory of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra as "dancing" on his grave.

"This is not the first time the Ukrainian neo-Nazis have tried to dance on someone's grave," Zakharova said at a news briefing, while commenting on the opinion of Maxim Ostapenko, the director of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra state museum-reserve, subordinate to the Culture Ministry, that Stolypin's remains should be included in the exchange list.

Zakharova recalled there had been many examples of how Ukraine "trades in holy shrines and relics and how it sends them abroad."

"Now there is a new initiative," Zakharova said. "Earlier they suggested using for this purpose the ashes of the liberator of Kiev, General Nikolay Vatutin, buried in the center of the city, and legendary Soviet secret service agent Nikolay Kuznetsov, whose grave is in Lvov."

Earlier, the director of the state museum-reserve Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, subordinate to the Ministry of Culture, Maxim Ostapenko, while answering a question from the Ukrainian channel "1+1" about the fate of the grave of the former chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Russian Empire from 1906-1911, Pyotr Stolypin, buried on the premises of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra near the northern wall of the Refectory Church, expressed the opinion that Stolypin's remains should be included in the exchange list.

Pyotr Stolypin (1862-1911) was the prime minister of the Russian Empire from 1906-1911. He was murdered in Kiev by an anarchist-terrorist Dmitry Bogrov while attending a performance in the city theater. He is buried on the premises of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra.

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Foreign policy Maria Zakharova Military operation in Ukraine

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