Nashi group protests against Soviet monument removal in Tashkent

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25/11 Tass 259

MOSCOW, November 25 (Itar-Tass) - The pro-Kremlin youth movement Nashi
has begun an open-ended rally in front of the Uzbek Embassy in Moscow over
the Uzbek authorities' decision to remove the monument to Soviet soldiers
in the centre of Tashkent.
"The authorities of this country followed Estonia's crooked road
removing the Defender of Motherland monument and busts of Soviet military
leaders from the park in Tashkent," the youth group's activist, Maria
Drokova, told Itar-Tass on Wednesday.
He noted that as in case with Estonia nobody asked permission of WWII
veterans, whose number reaches 12,000 in the Central Asian republic.
"The rewriting of history through humiliating the memory and insulting
WWII heroes is accompanied by large-scale campaigns in support of
Partnership for Peace program. Obviously, the memory of Soviet soldiers
and Uzbek fighters against fascism - every third of whom does not return
home - turned less significant than merits of NATO's servicemen," she said.
"We will demand apologies of Uzbekistan's authorities and the return
of the monument to the centre of Uzbek capital by all legal means until we
achieve our goal," Drokova said.
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