The Diplomat
The Socialist Party of Galicia (PSdeG) is calling on the mayor of Vilanova de Arousa, Gonzalo Durán, of the PP, to remove a bell that was donated by Russia, through its ambassador to Spain, Yuri Korchagin, to the town, according to La Voz de Galicia.
The socialists ask the mayor, after the invasion of Ukraine, to “break ties” with Russia, a country with which he maintained close relations through his contacts with Russian tour operators, aimed at attracting visitors to the island of Arousa.
Thanks to these contacts, in June last year, Ambassador Korchagin travelled to Vilanova to present the mayor with a bell, as a gift from the Russian people to the inhabitants of the town. The bell was blessed and placed in the chapel of San Mauro, where the ambassador and the mayor rang it.
The PSdeG calls on Durán to inform the ambassador that the piece will not be reinstalled until “Putin withdraws his troops from Ukraine and lets this sovereign state live in peace”.
The newspaper quotes the response of municipal sources to the socialists’ request: “The bell was donated to the Church and belongs to the Church. Amen”.
