A top Russian diplomat has been criticised for an “inappropriate” and “crazy” journey after making a 200-mile round trip to war memorials across Tayside on Saturday.
The Russian Consulate General in Edinburgh, Andrey Yakovlev, took a delegation to Dundee and the remote Highland Perthshire village of Fearnan to lay flowers at war memorials in commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the end of the Second World War.
Fearnan residents slammed the journey to the small village where a memorial to three Russian airman who died in a plane crash during the war was erected last year.
Local gallery owner Keith Brockie witnessed the arrival of three cars in the village carrying around nine or 10 delegates, despite the current lockdown rules.
Mr Brockie said: “They went into the village hall car park.
“Someone in the closest house to that car park has been self-isolating for weeks.
“It’s a bit crazy when you’ve got three car lots in the village who have driven all the way up from Edinburgh.”
A second resident said: “I watched them walking to the field with the memorial. No social distancing, opening gates etc.”
Perthshire politicians questioned the necessity of the lengthy journey during the coronavirus crisis.
Pete Wishart, SNP MP for Perth and North Perthshire, said: “Important as this memorial is to the Russians, I think a lot of people will be questioning whether this journey was essential when we are coping with the serious issues around Covid with instructions not to travel.
“This year memorial services for VE day have been small private affairs where safety was the number one priority.
“Members of the public dutifully followed instructions in their own tributes right across Perthshire.
“Fearnan is a small community rightly concerned when they witness strangers coming into the community throughout this emergency.
“With the greatest of respect to our Russian friends think that this service, held in this way, and at this time was inappropriate.”
Mike Williamson, SNP councillor for Highland Perthshire, suggested that the delegation could have paid their respects virtually as occurred around Perth and Kinross.
He said: “I think it’s inappropriate given the current circumstances.
“The barrier up here is the fact that we are rural and that acts as a barrier to the virus.
“People are naturally worried.”
In a post shared to the official Facebook page for the Russian Consulate General in Edinburgh, the branch stated that they visited both Fearnan and the International Submarine Memorial in Dundee on Saturday.
It reads: “On 9 May 2020 on the 75th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War Consul General of the Russian Federation in Edinburgh Andrey Yakovlev laid flowers at international and Russian war memorials in Scotland.
“The tribute was paid at the International Submarine Memorial in Dundee.
“It commemorates the tragically lost crews of the Allied submarines based in Dundee during the World War II, including the crew of the Soviet submarine V-1, led by the Hero of the Soviet Union, captain II rank I.Fysanovich, lost in 1944.
“In the village of Fearnan (Perth and Kinross) the flowers were laid at the memorial stone commemorating the Soviet pilots A.Gruzdin, A.Alexeev and V.Dryamin who died when their plane crash-landed at Fearnan in 1943. They managed to save civilians steering clear from the houses.”
The Russian Embassy has been contacted for further comment.
