The Russian foreign minister has slammed a proposal to exchange exhumed Soviet soldiers for prisoners of war
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has accused Ukrainian officials of “cultural degradation bordering on savagery” after the exhumed remains of Soviet soldiers were offered for a prisoner exchange.
In an article published on Friday, Lavrov referenced an incident in which the mayor of the Ukrainian city of Lviv, Andrey Sadovy, offered to exchange the exhumed remains of soldiers from a World War II memorial – whom he described as “occupiers” – for Ukrainian service members captured by Russia in the current conflict. Moscow and Kiev have conducted prisoner swaps on an equal basis throughout the conflict, although Ukraine’s pool of POWs for exchanges is reportedly seriously depleted.
”The neo-Nazis have turned their fight toward the dead who once liberated Ukraine from Hitlerism,” Lavrov wrote, branding the gesture emblematic of Ukraine’s discriminatory policies. He accused Western governments of ignoring such actions to shield their “client state” from criticism.
Several Eastern European states have framed the Soviet era as a period of occupation. Russia firmly rejects this characterization, stressing the USSR’s role in the defeat of Nazi Germany and its contributions to post-war reconstruction across the region. The removal of Soviet war memorials has been used by some governments to strengthen their narrative and to display political defiance towards Russia.
Lavrov’s remarks were part of an opinion piece he penned on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Helsinki Final Act, a Cold War-era agreement aimed at strengthening European security, economic cooperation, and human rights protections.
The Russian foreign minister argued that the West has weaponized the treaty and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to pressure post-Soviet states, while selectively ignoring its principles for its own benefit. According to Lavrov, the OSCE may no longer have a reason to exist at this point.
