RIGA (Sputnik) — Latvia's nationalist Daugavas Vanagi Latvija (DV) organization has destroyed a Soviet-era World War II monument in the town of Limbazi in the north of the country, DV leader Gunars Grinbergs said Tuesday.
"Over the weekend, Daugavas Vanagi Latvija destroyed a monument to Soviet navy sailors," Grinbergs told reporters.
The monument, which was erected in 1974 near the town's school and created in the shape of the hull of a ship, was dedicated to Soviet seamen who died in the first weeks of World War II while fighting local Nazi collaborators. It was protected by the 1994 Russia-Latvian agreements, under which Latvia is obliged to maintain Soviet memorials and war graves.
Grinbergs claimed, citing historical archives, that the seamen were marauders who killed seven local civilians.
A Limbazi city council representative said that local authorities had approved the taking down of the monument.
DV was founded in 1945 by former Latvian members of Nazi Germany's Waffen-SS and continues to support SS veterans and their families living in Latvia.
