Poland to protest after Russia removed its flag from war memorial

FILE PHOTO: A man puts flowers into a wall with names of killed Polish officers during a commemoration ceremony at a memorial complex in Katyn, some 350 km (220 miles) west of Moscow April 10, 2012. REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko/File Photo

WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland is to send a protest note to Russia after it removed a Polish flag at the Katyn cemetery, which commemorates Polish military officers killed by Soviet forces in 1940, the government said on Monday.

An estimated 22,000 officers and intellectuals were killed in Katyn, near Smolensk in western Russia, many trucked in from prison camps, shot in the head from behind, and shoved into mass graves.