The Norwegian mayor was enraged by the provocation and moved the Russian wreath aside.
The Red Army liberated Kirkkoniemi, Norway, from the occupation of Nazi Germany in October 1944.
A large statue of a Soviet soldier holding a machine pistol reminds of the liberation in Kirkkoniemi. On Wednesday, it was 79 years since the liberation and it was celebrated with a wreath-laying ceremony.
Because of the Russian war of aggression, the Russian consul general was not wanted at the commemoration.
According to Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation NRK, the Russian Consul General Nikolai Konygin defied the admonition not to attend the feast.
The consul came to the statue and demonstratively laid a Russian wreath on the mayor of the municipality of South Varangi Magnus Mæland placed on top of the municipality’s official wreath.
Based on the pictures from NRK’s online story, the wreath of the Norwegian community has yellow and blue, which are the colors of Ukraine, the victim of the war of aggression from Russia.
According to NRK, Mayor Mæland got angry and went to take away the Russian flower wreath. After this, the Russian woman who was present raised the Russian wreath back and the Norwegian wreath was covered again. Before this, Consul Konygin had left the place and did not answer the NRK reporter’s questions about the matter.
– You can’t behave like this. The official wreath laid by the municipality of South Varang at the liberation monument must be respected, said mayor Mæland.
According to the mayor, it is clear that there is freedom of expression in Norway.
– Wreaths can be laid on memorials, but not on the municipality’s official wreath.
The former long-time mayor of Etelä-Varangi interviewed by NRK by Rune Rafaelsen according to Putin’s attack on Ukraine, the participation of Russian representatives in the commemoration is not justified. According to Rafaelsen, Putin has destroyed the memory of the Red Army.