LITHUANIA
Brawl in Vilnius after flowers place on destroyed Russian tank Access to the commentsCOMMENTS
By Joshua Askew • Updated: 28/02/2023 – 18:08
A woman plays with a dog on the destroyed Russian tank t Cathedral Square in Vilnius, Lithuania, Friday, Feb. 24, 2023.
A woman plays with a dog on the destroyed Russian tank t Cathedral Square in Vilnius, Lithuania, Friday, Feb. 24, 2023. – Copyright Mindaugas Kulbis/Copyright 2022 The AP. All rights reserved.
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Police in Vilnius have launched an investigation into a series of incidents, after pro-Russian sympathisers put tributes on a destroyed tank in the city’s main square.
On Sunday evening, a fight broke out after a group of Russian supporters placed flowers and lit candles on the Russian tank, which was destroyed in fighting outside Kyiv, and donated by Ukraine to Lithuania.
Punches were reportedly thrown between supporters of Russia and Ukraine, and police says one man was injured in the fight in Vilnius’s Cathedral Square.
Similar altercations were reported on 24 February, the one-year anniversary of the Russian invasion.
The incidents — with the first reportedly involving a popular standup comedian and aide to the mayor of Vilnius as bystanders — highlight the divisive nature of the Ukraine war in Lithuania.
While the vast majority of Lithuanians fiercely support Ukraine, remembering the country’s devastating occupation by the USSR, a small minority of Russian speakers have defended Moscow and supported its aims.
Why Lithuania is polarised over Russia’s war in Ukraine
“A war is a terrible thing,” Professor Stanislovas Tomas, an advocate for Lithuania’s Russian-speaking minority, told Euronews.
“However… the Lithuanian government has pushed the Russian language minority to bring flowers to the damaged Russian tank… [by] treating them as enemies.”
Critics have blasted a series of moves by the authorities, such as taking down a Stalin-era WW2 memorial, as divisive, though supporters say they are necessary to show solidarity with Kyiv.
Lithuania is also home to tens of thousands of Ukrainian refugees.
Row breaks out as Vilnius tears down Stalin-era WW2 memorial
Police investigating the tank incidents are looking into possible violations of the ban on displaying Soviet symbols, punishable by a fine of up to €700.
Lithuanian law currently prohibits the distribution and display of USSR, Nazi Germany, Lithuanian SSR flags, coats of arms and symbols, including the Soviet hammer and sickle and the Soviet red five-pointed star.
The Russian T-72B tank, destroyed by the Ukrainian army, went on display in Vilnius last week.
According to LRT, Lithuania’s public broadcaster, a white BMW with the license plate “Moi Mir” (“My world” in Russian) pulled up to the tank on Sunday evening.
A group of men and women got out and laid red carnations on the tank.
In footage shared widely on social media, they are then seen engaging with bystanders in heated discussions, with one unidentified man being punched, according to Vilnius County Chief Police Commissariat, Julija Samorokovskaja.
Whether the victim placed the flowers or was an outraged passerby is not known.
The mayor’s office has been approached for comment.
