A battle of wreaths breaks out in the Arctic

A Russian diplomat reportedly places flowers on top of the official garland at a monument in Norway.

COPENHAGEN — A battle of wreaths erupted Wednesday when a Russian diplomat in the Arctic town of Kirkenes in northern Norway reportedly put his garland on top of Norway’s at a monument for the 1944 liberation of the region by Soviet troops.

Magnus Maeland, the municipality mayor, then angrily removed the Russian wreath — only to have a woman, described by Norwegian public broadcaster NRK as being Russian, put it back.

“You don’t behave like that here,” Maeland told NRK. “One should be able to lay flowers at a monument, but not over the municipality’s official wreath.”

Several people in the town only 4.3 miles from the Russian border had called on Russian officials to stay away from the ceremony.

In an op-ed published last week, local historians Marit Bjerkeng and Harald Sunde wrote that “official representatives of Russia should not hold any commemoration or appear at memorials on Norwegian soil,” saying it would be seen “as an insult to Norway, to Ukraine and to victims of war in all countries.”

The ceremony commemorates the Oct. 25, 1944, liberation of Kirkenes during World War II by the Soviet army, which had entered neighboring Norway, then occupied by Nazi Germany.

Since then, the date is marked annually. In 2019, on the 75th anniversary, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov laid wreaths at the monument and stood side by side with Norway’s foreign minister.

There was no immediate comment from Nikolai Konygin, who heads Russia’s Consulate in Kirkenes, which has three diplomats.

Tensions run high between Norway and Russia, which share a border measuring about 120 miles. Kirkenes is the largest town in the region.

On Saturday, Konygin gave a speech at the war memorial in the same Norwegian border town.

Visitors from the Russian border town of Nikel faced the diplomat while residents from Kirkenes silently turned their backs to him, according to the online outlet the Barents Observer.

Locals had already placed a wreath at the monument before Konygin arrived, with the text “to our Ukrainian heroes from 1944 and 2022,” according to the Barents Observer.

Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union during World War II.