4,000 people protested
Shortly after landing at Budapest’s Liszt Ferenc Airport for a much-watched state visit, Putin went to the Fiuemi úti cemetery, where more than 7,000 Russian soldiers, most killed during World War II are buried.
According to an advance itinerary of Putin’s visit, he was scheduled to lay a wreath at a recently-renovated memorial to Soviet soldiers who died during the suppression of the 1956 anti-Soviet uprising, which says the soldiers gave their lives fighting the “counter-revolution of 1956”.
The renovation of the graves and monuments – including one with two black obelisks with red stars on top, which commemorate the Russian soldiers who fought and died in Hungary in 1956 – was financed by a Russian billionaire and took place between 2012 and 2014. The inscription “Eternal gratitude and glory to the Soviet heroes who sacrificed their lives for the liberty of the Hungarian people during the counter-revolution of 1956 October” remained unchanged after its renovation.