BRATISLAVA, October 3. /TASS/. A monument to Soviet Marshal Ivan Konev has been unveiled in Slovakia, the TASR news agency reported.

The monument stands in the village of Kruzlovz, near Svidnik in northeastern Slovakia’s Presov Region. In autumn 1944, the Red Army launched the Carpathian-Dukla Offensive in the area, seeking to break through the fortified Dukla Pass and link up with forces participating in the anti-Nazi Slovak National Uprising. Konev commanded Soviet troops during the operation.

The unveiling ceremony was attended by Slovakia’s Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Richard Takac; Lubos Blaha, a Member of the European Parliament and Deputy Chairman of Direction - Social Democracy, the country’s largest governing coalition party; veterans; members of the public; and Russian Ambassador to Slovakia Sergey Andreyev.

The initiative to erect the monument was launched two years ago by Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico.

"Marshal Konev made a significant contribution to the liberation of Czechoslovakia. Yet today in Europe, the trend is actually to remove such monuments," Takac said, according to Slovak Television.

The monument was created by Slovak sculptor Slavomir Gibej, who previously produced a monument to Soviet Marshal Rodion Malinovsky. That monument was installed in the village of Stary Tekov in western Slovakia, an area liberated from Nazi forces by troops under Malinovsky’s command.