"Within two months, we will have certainty on how many monuments [remain], what condition they are in and who owns some of the monuments – the vast majority remain under the supervision of local authorities but some of them may have other owners. It is necessary to explore that in depth, after that, the whole plan will be presented to local and central authorities…" Ukielski told the Onet media outlet on Monday.
In March, IPN head Lukasz Kaminski announced that about 500 Soviet monuments, "symbolizing the supremacy of the communist system in Poland," would be relocated to a special military-historical museum.
Ukielski said that the exact location of the museum has not yet been determined as it will depend on the number of the monuments. He also added that the museum would not be "a nostalgic Disneyland."
"The idea is that no one will doubt that they are not monuments of the authentic gratitude of the Polish nation to the Red Army," he said.
Russia has many times expressed its discontent with the removal of Soviet monuments in Poland. In April, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Poland had become the European leader in terms of the desecration of Soviet monuments.
According to the 1992 Russian-Polish Agreement on Friendly and Neighborly Cooperation Poland must protect and preserve Soviet and Russian cemeteries, graves, monuments and other memorial sites located in the country.
