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The Monument of the Soviet Army in Sofia, Bulgaria has, once again, been vandalized. The monument, which depicts a number of USSR soldiers during the Second World War, has been vandalized several times in the past and Moscow would really like it to stop.

(AP Photo/Valentina Petrova)

In 2011, it was painted look like pop culture icons like Superman, Ronald MacDonald, and Santa Claus. In 2013, it was painted pink with graffiti letters reading, "Bulgaria apologizes," in order to "mark the anniversary of the Prague Spring," according to the Associated Press. In February, it was painted with the colors of Ukraine's flag:

The controversial Monument of the Soviet Army in Sofia in the colours of the #Ukrainian flag this morning. pic.twitter.com/OolYVL8gHr — Julian Popov (@julianpopov) February 23, 2014

This week, it was painted red. (Though obviously not by the same people who repainted one of Moscow's tallest buildings yesterday.) The statue was painted overnight on August 17. Officials didn't specify how bad the damage was, only that the red paint was "in several places." Russia's Foreign Ministry issued this statement to ITAR-TASS, "In connection with the outrageous act of vandalism, a note of protest was promptly lodged with the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry with a demand for taking measures to prevent such incidents in the future, bringing those responsible for breaching the law to justice and putting the grave and the monument in order."

Considering some of the soldiers were previously painted to look like American brand mascots, a bit of red paint seems minor.

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