Czechs summon Russian envoy amid Soviet-era statue row

The Czech foreign ministry summoned Russia's ambassador on Friday amid a row over a controversial Soviet-era statue in Prague that city authorities want to replace with a World War II memorial.

Prague authorities put a tarp over the vandalised statue of Soviet General Ivan Stepanovich Konev in August, triggering a sharp reaction from Moscow.

Russian Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky called Ondrej Kolar, mayor of Prague's sixth district who approved the tarp, a "gauleiter", or a regional Nazi Party leader during World War II.

Medinsky also accused Kolar of supporting hooligans and tarnishing the memory of Soviet soldiers.

While Konev is regarded as a hero in Russia, many Czechs see him as a symbol of Soviet-era oppression.

He led Red Army troops that liberated Prague from the Nazis in 1945, but he was also in charge of Operation Whirlwind, which crushed the anti-Soviet Hungarian Uprising of 1956.

Konev, who died in 1973, also played a role in the 1968 Soviet-led crackdown on the ...