On 21 August 2013 unknown artists painted the monument in pink in honor of the anniversary of the Prague spring . There was an inscription both in Bulgarian and in Czech which read " Bulgaria apologises " . The pink color is a reference to the painting of The Monument to Soviet Tank Crews in Prague by David Černý in 1991 . On 22 August , Russia officially demands for sanctions for those responsible over the desecration of the monument and to take immediate measures so that this does not happen in the future . Foreign Minister Kristian Vigenin asks not to dramatize the painting and states that " Bulgaria has international commitments to maintain these monuments . Desecration of a monument is something that should not happen . I think that it should not cause much extreme reactions on this issue , because the institutions in Bulgaria took immediate measures " On 23 February 2014 , the monument was once more painted by unknown perpetrators , this time the statue of one of the soldiers and the flag above it were painted in the national colours of Ukraine . The phrase " Glory to Ukraine " was written in Ukrainian on the monument , as well as an obscene reference to Russian President Vladimir Putin who was called " Kaputin " ( from the German kaput , which means broken ) . The act was in support of the 2014 Ukrainian Revolution . The same day a photo of the painted monument became Best of the day in Euronews with the title : " Bulgaria : " Glory to Ukraine . " On February 24 , the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia expressed outrage saying that " With the feeling of deep resentment in Russia was greeted with news of yet another case of vandalism directed against the Soviet Army monument in the center of the capital of Bulgaria , Sofia during the night of February 23 " . The Russian Ministry sent a protest note to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria with a request to " conduct a thorough investigation of this hooligan incident and to accuse those guilty of such an unlawful conduct and also take appropriate measures to bring the memorial back to its normal state . " On March 2 , the monument again awakes painted with an inscription defending Ukraine , this time as a reaction to the invasion of Russian troops of the Peninsula of Crimea . The inscription reads " Hands off Ukraine " and crosses out the dedication " for the liberator Soviet Army from the grateful Bulgarian people . " On April 12 one of the statues was painted in the colours of the Polish flag , with another one of the statues standing right behind being painted with the Ukrainian colours . Under the soldiers there is an inscription remembering about the Katyn massacre
Katyn massacre
Katyn massacre
Monument to the Soviet Army, Sofia