CNN published the list of world's ugliest monuments on January 24th. The list included the monument called "Courage" in the city of Brest, Belarus, that was opened in memory of the fighters killed in the Great Patriotic War.
The administration of the Brest Fortress memorial complex complained of the article on the American website. According to the director of the complex, Gregory Bysyuk, the US-based company should at least apologize for desecrating the memory of those who died in WWII.
The notorious article was penned by a freelance journalist. "He also serves as a reminder not to mess with Belarus - ever. Others say he simply looks constipated," the author wrote.
A poster wrote in the comments section underneath the article that there was nothing ugly in the Belarusian monument. "This is a dedication to the great courage of soldiers. I believe that the expression on the man's face means that he could be shot any moment, and he was aware of it. People, please study history before judging something."
In pictures: Americans know nothing about WWII history
Historian, political scientist and publicist told Vadim Gigin told Pravda.Ru:
"I think one should give a sensible and cold reaction here. I think it was a deliberate provocation to cause strong indignation and maybe even distract people's attention from important political aspects. But, of course, this is no accident.
"We have a few things here in relation to Russia and Belarus, with a very clear position on foreign policy aspects. This is the success of the Eurasian project, the position on Syria and the situation around Ukraine. Naturally, the topic of the Great Patriotic War, as a key moment in our history, will be subject to such attacks to discredit it to the maximum.
"I'd like to draw your attention to an amazing coincidence of a few facts. We've had the infamous story with Rain TV Channel about the siege of Leningrad, where for the first time in the history of Russian television journalists asked people whether it was necessary to surrender the city to the enemy.
"Immediately afterwards - what a coincidence! - CNN publishes the list of ugliest monuments in the world. Well, let's assume that they do not like this monument aesthetically, this is debatable, but what words they used to say that! This is insulting in relation to the Belarusian people, first and foremost. And next there is a statement to dismantle the monument to Chernyakhovsky (in the Polish city Penenzho - Ed.). These are not coincidences, it's all in the same vein.
"As for the Americans, they, in principle, are very dismissive to other countries' history, because they believe that there is only America that brings light to the world, and all the rest are barbarians that revolve around America and have to look the USA in the mouth and listen to every word the States says. Nevertheless, CNN did apologize for this publication.
"However, if we look at it as a system, we can say to the Poles that the Polish territory would look differently without Ivan Danilovich Chernyakhovsky, because everyone knows that the Kaliningrad region is a part of East Prussia, but somehow it is not very much accentuated that two-thirds of East Prussia were given to Poland.
"So a big part of German East Prussia became a part of modern-day Poland. Nothing of this would have happened if it wasn't for victories of the army under the command of Ivan Chernyakhovsky, who gave his life in the struggle for independence and freedom of the Polish state. This is a spit at history of the past, a shocking move, especially on the eve of the 70th anniversary of the victory which we will celebrate next year."
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