The exhumation of Ukrainian nationalist Andriy Melnyk and his wife from the Bonnevoie cemetery and their transfer to Ukraine did not require a political decision, but merely an administrative one, Foreign Minister Xavier Bettel has stated.
Bettel noted that the Luxembourgish ambassador to Moscow conveyed the same position to the Russian Foreign Ministry when summoned at the end of May. He added that such a summons is an established diplomatic practice and would not necessitate a counter-reaction.
The Foreign Minister provided these answers on Wednesday in response to a parliamentary question from the Alternative Democratic Reform Party (ADR). ADR parliamentary group leader Fred Keup had sought the government's view on the state mourning and honouring of a figure whom historical scholarship has clearly identified as a Nazi collaborator and leader of a Nazi and antisemitic movement. Bettel did not address this point directly.
Instead, the Minister pointed out that the municipality of Luxembourg City and the Ministry of Health were the competent authorities for the exhumation and transfer. It was these two bodies that approved the transfer in accordance with technical regulations, Bettel clarified.
