Russian authorities in Siberia’s Yakutsk have erected statues of two Russian soldiers in a place where a memorial dedicated to exiled Poles and Lithuanians once stood.
Independent Russian outlet Astra, citing local media, reported on Wednesday that the new memorial is dedicated to Dmitry “Suntar” Yegorov and Nikolai “Ronin” Romanov. The two reportedly met during Russia’s Ukraine invasion and died on the same day.
Yegorov served in Russia’s 155th Marine Brigade in Ukraine during the initial days of Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion, with the brigade being accused of murdering civilians and beheading Ukrainian soldiers during the 2022 occupation of Bucha outside Kyiv, according to Astra.
In 2023, Yegorov was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of Russia, while Romanov posthumously received the Order of Courage, according to local outlet Ulus Media, which reported on the unveiling of the new monument.
Local outlet 7x7 Horizontal Russia noted that the new monument stood at the intersection of Kurashova and Poyarkova Streets, where a memorial dedicated to exiled Poles and Lithuanians in the 18th-19th centuries once stood.
In the 19th century, when the Russian Empire controlled much of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, thousands of Poles were exiled to Siberia following the failed uprisings of 1830-31 and 1863-64. Those exiled to Siberia are known in Polish as “Sybirak.”
According to Russian outlet Meduza, the memorial had stood there since 2001. Five stones arranged in a semicircle bore plaques honoring Polish scholars exiled to Yakutia who made significant contributions to the study of the Yakut language and culture.
According to 7x7, the original memorial was removed in 2023 – starting with the removal of memorial plaques and later the memorial stones, with Yakutia’s Department for the Protection of Cultural Heritage Sites arguing that the memorial is registered as a protected site.
Fights over historical memory
While Warsaw has not commented on the latest incident, the country has clashed with both Ukraine and Russia over historical events.
In Russia, authorities in April organized an exhibit titled “10 Centuries of Polish Russophobia,” which portrays Poland’s historical relationship with Russia as defined by hostility and aggression.
The exhibit is located at the Katyn Memorial site, where more than 20,000 Polish officers, intellectuals, and prisoners of war were executed by Soviet secret police in 1940. For decades, Soviet authorities denied the massacre, blaming Nazi Germany before eventually acknowledging responsibility.
While Polish authorities did not officially comment on the exhibit, the foreign ministry issued a statement at the time condemning Moscow’s persecution of a group “restoring the memory of the victims of Soviet terror, including the victims of the Katyn Massacre.”
With Ukraine, a major diplomatic spat unfolded in early 2026 when Ukraine named a military unit after commanders from the WWII-era Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA).
While many Ukrainians view the group as part of the country’s struggle for independence, Poland considers the UPA responsible for mass killings of Polish civilians in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia during the war.
In response, Poland stripped President Volodymyr Zelensky of the country’s highest state honor, with former Ukrainian presidents and sitting top officials returning their state honors in protest.