Did the Lithuanian government decide to demolish the Soviet pedestal and Eternal Flame at the Antakalnis cemetery in Vilnius? No, that's not true: The sculpture will be transferred to complete the collection of Soviet soldiers' statues, a move that was initiated in 2022 after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The claim appeared in a video (archived here) on TikTok by pravda_bel on January 30, 2024. The text overlay on the video (translated from Russian to English by Lead Stories staff) read:
In Vilnius, the Soviet pedestal and Eternal Flame will be demolished. 👉 The war memorial was created in the year 1951. It is a grave to more than 3 thousand of the Red Army soldiers and officers. 40 years ago 6 light gray granite stelae, depicting fighters of various military branches, were erected. At the end of 2022, the stelae were demounted. The demounting is expected to cost 71 thousand euros. ❗️It looks like the Lithuanian government is tired of just simply fighting with monuments. Now they have decided to make money on the memory of Soviet soldiers. Will they not burn in the fire they are trying to put out. Western politics is not the opinion of the common people.
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Wed Jan 31 17:07:04 2024 UTC)
In response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Vilnius City Council decided to dismantle the Soviet-era monument (archived here) in June 2022. The removal process included taking down six stelae that represented Soviet soldiers. Vilnius Mayor Remigijus Šimašius emphasized that the disassembly would be carried out in a manner that does not impact the graves or the historical significance of the monument (archived here).
Gabrielius Grubinskas, the spokesperson for the Vilnius Municipality, said (archived here) that to maintain the cohesive design of the sculpture (as translated), "the council approved the proposal of the Historical Memory Commission to dismantle the remaining pedestal and altar at Antakalnis Cemetery, which, according to the commission, are an integral part of the monument."
The sculptures are destined for relocation to Grutas Park, an open-air museum dedicated to Soviet monuments. This move follows the earlier transfer of the six granite stelae (archived here), contributing to the completion of the museum's architectural ensemble.
