Russia's upper house of parliament has asked President Vladimir Putin to start preparing sanctions on Poland over its plans to demolish Soviet monuments, Russian state media reported on July 25.
But the Kremlin said Putin has made no decision yet on taking measures against Poland over legislation recently passed in Warsaw that authorizes the government to dismantle as many as 500 Soviet monuments viewed as relics of a totalitarian regime.
Polish officials have said the Soviet Union was an occupying state during the four decades following World War II and, with nationalist sentiment rising, they want to remove hundreds of monuments erected during that era.
Last week, Russia's Foreign Ministry warned against the plans, saying that removing Soviet monuments would violate heritage agreements between Russia and Poland.