KIEV, January 10. /ITAR-TASS/. Unidentified vandals have beheaded the monument to Russian Soviet leader Lenin in the district center of Mashevka, Poltava Region in central Ukraine, the press service of the regional police reported on Friday.

“A team of detectives went to the incident site. A criminal case was opened for hooliganism,” the press service reported.

On January 4, unidentified ruffians have broken down the monument to Lenin in Nikolayevsk District of Odessa Region at the premises of the Andreyevo-Ivanovsky rural council and have sprayed the paint on the monument to Lenin in Berezovka.

On January 9, unidentified hooligans have crushed down the monument to Lenin from its bottom at the premises of a school in the town of Berdichev in Zhitomir Region.

On Christmas Eve, when most residents attended a festive church service, unidentified vandals have destroyed the monument to Soviet warriors, who perished in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, in the town of Glynyany in Lvov Region.

 

The vandals have torn away the heads and hands from the statues placed at the common grave site. The monument was unveiled in the early fifties of the previous century at the place, where 32 soldiers were buried during the Great Patriotic War. The war memorial was unveiled in the center of the city not far from the building housing the city authorities and at a cathedral.

The police have opened a criminal case over the destruction of the monument. Vandals face up to five years in prison, but the police had not tracked down any suspects yet. Local authorities intend to restore the monument by May 9.

In early December 2013 a team of Ukrainian detectives and operatives have launched an investigation over the demolition of the monument to Lenin in Kiev, Ukraine’s capital. The law enforcement agencies have found that representatives of the nationalistic party Svoboda (freedom) were involved in the destruction of the monument.

Yet, no offenders have been brought to justice for these vandalism cases.