Russia has criticised the demolition of a Soviet-era monument in Poland, calling the decision “sacrilegious” and a “flagrant violation” of an agreement between the two countries on respecting places of remembrance. However, Poland’s state Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), which financed the demolition, says that the monument was a “Soviet propaganda object” that was removed under a law requiring the “decommunisation” of public spaces. Such Soviet monuments remained in many Polish towns and cities long after the fall of communism in 1989. The IPN notes that such monuments were “Soviet propaganda objects”, designed to support the Moscow-backed communist regime, rather than genuine places of commemoration. “Local communist activists, eager to curry favour with their Soviet masters, erected a monument honouring the Soviet army.