RIGA, October 28. /TASS/. Latvia’s state police launched a criminal case into Saturday’s act of vandalism committed against a monument to Soviet soldiers who liberated the Latvian capital of Riga from Nazi forces, police spokesperson Gita Gzibovskis told TASS on Monday.

"In connection with the incident, criminal proceedings were launched. Investigative actions are under way," she said, responding to a TASS request.

The LETA news agency said on Saturday that unknown vandals wrote ‘invaders’ in the Latvian language on the monument.

The Russian embassy in Latvia condemned the incident, saying that vandalism of this kind comes as a direct consequence of attempts to rewrite the history of World War II and portray heroes who liberated Latvia from Nazism, as "invaders."

About 200,000 Latvian residents gather near the monument annually on May 9 to lay flowers and congratulate veterans on the Victory Day. Local nationalists have repeatedly called for dismantling the monument, built in 1980s, but their initiative was not supported by the parliament. The monument was vandalized several times. In 1997, an attempt has been made to blow it up.