In Vienna, 2 portraits of Alexei Navalny are painted close to a monument to Soviet troopers
VIENNA — Two massive portraits of the late Russian opposition chief Alexei Navalny have been spray-painted on a property owned by the household of a former Czech overseas minister behind a monument to Soviet troopers in Vienna.
The portraits have been accomplished Wednesday on the wall behind the monument, which was already painted in Ukraine’s blue and yellow nationwide colours after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The wall belongs to the Palais Schwarzenberg, owned by the noble household of former Czech Overseas Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, who died in November.
The monument portraying a Soviet soldier was constructed after Soviet troops took Vienna in 1945. Austria, which was annexed by Nazi Germany in 1938, was divided into occupation zones till the nation was granted full sovereignty in 1955.
“The monument commemorates victims of dictatorship and Mr. Navalny is an apparent sufferer of dictatorship,” Maximillian Schaffgotsch of the Schwarzenberg household basis advised the Austria Press Company.
Navalny, who crusaded in opposition to official corruption in Russia and staged large anti-Kremlin protests as President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest foe, died Feb. 16 within the Arctic penal colony the place he was serving a 19-year sentence. Officers have mentioned solely that he died of pure causes.
Austrian graffiti duo Joel Gamnou painted the portraits. Jonathan Gamperl, one half of the duo, mentioned that “up to now we’ve solely gotten optimistic suggestions.”
KSORS, a gaggle described by Austrian media as being near the Russian Embassy, complained in a Fb submit that the wall behind the monument to Soviet troopers is being “misused for political functions.”
An improvised memorial to Navalny reverse the embassy has been eliminated twice within the final two weeks. Vienna prosecutors are contemplating whether or not to open an investigation into these incidents, APA reported.
