You're reading: Foreign Policy: As Putin seeks to reinvent history, Russia-Czech relations hit a new low

Foreign Policy: As Putin seeks to reinvent history, Russia-Czech relations hit a new low

By Foreign Policy.

Published April 30, 2020. Updated April 30 at 5:42 am

Workers load on a truck the statue of Soviet general and Marshal of the Soviet Union Ivan Stepanovic Konev as it is made ready for removal on April 3, 2020, in Prague. The municipal district of Prague 6 has ordered to remove the statue of Ivan Konev, a controversial Red Army general during WWII. The statue will be replaced by a memorial dedicated to the liberation of Prague in 1945.

Photo by AFP

A decision by officials in Prague to remove a statue of a Soviet army marshal from a local park last fall has evolved into a diplomatic dust-up that has only escalated since the sculpture was finally taken down in April, pushing tensions between the Czech Republic and Russia to their lowest point since the end of the Cold War.