Prague district insisting on Russian Liberation Army memorial

The Prague-Reporyje district town hall does not intend to discuss its plan to instal a memorial to the Russian Liberation Army (ROA) with Russia, Mayor Pavel Novotny told journalists today. On Monday, the Embassy of Russia protested against the plan, arguing that the memorial would be a violation of the Czech Republic's commitments within the Convention on the Non-Applicability of Statutory Limitations to War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity from 1968. Members of the ROA, dubbed as the Vlasov Army in the Czech environment, were Soviet citizens who, after being taken prisoners by the Nazis, joined the Russian Liberation Army, which fought alongside Nazi Germany at the close of the war. In May 1945, however, it helped liberate Prague. Roughly 300 of its members died in the fighting.