MOSCOW, May 8. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia has filed a note of protest with Austria regarding the desecration of the monument to Soviet warriors-liberators in Vienna, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated on Thursday.

“Upon this fact, a protest note has been filed with the Federal Ministry of European and International Affairs with an insistent demand to the relevant Austrian authorities to take urgent measures and eliminate the damages at the memorial complex, establish and punish those guilty and prevent similar incidents in the future,” the commentary says. “Taking into account the international legal liabilities of Vienna stipulated by the Treaty for the re-establishment of an independent and democratic Austria, signed in Vienna on the 15 May 1955 and the recurrent acts of vandalism, we urge again the Austrian authorities to take relevant measures for providing reliable protection of the memorial on Schwarzenbergplatz”.

How the monument was desecrated

The monument to Soviet warrior-liberator in downtown Vienna has been desecrated overnight to Thursday.

Unidentified offenders have painted the Ukrainian flag on the granite cube before the stele, covering the plate with the monument’s name and names of its authors.

The memorial, which several years ago was renovated by the Austrian authorities, has become target for vandals multiple times. The last time it happened in April 2012, when the monument was poured with red paint.

On Thursday, Austria celebrates the 69th anniversary of the end of World War II. Vienna was liberated by Soviet troops on April 13, 1945. Thus, the vandals, who painted the Ukrainian flag, have insulted over the memory of warriors of the Second and Third Ukrainian fronts, who participated in Vienna’s liberation.