Poland seeks to avoid Red Army row -- for now

WARSAW, May 7 (Reuters) Poland has shelved legislation that would allow the removal of monuments to Soviet soldiers on its soil, fearing it would cause Russian wrath just as Moscow celebrates victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two.

Poland's conservative government was due to send a draft bill on the issue to parliament last week but withheld it for ''further consultations'', officials said today.

Deputy Culture Minister Jaroslaw Selin said Russia's violent reaction to the removal of a Red Army monument in ex-Soviet republic Estonia showed Poland had to tread carefully.

''In two days Russians will celebrate with pomp the end of the war and it is a fact that they are very sensitive over this issue,'' he told private radio Zet. ''It makes sense to give ourselves some time to fine-tune the bill.'' He did not say when the draft might make it to parliament.

Many people in former Soviet satellites in central and eastern Europe see towering Communist-era monuments to the Red Army, often erected in city centres, as symbols of forced enslavement by Moscow after the war.

To Russians, the monuments are reminders of the enormous human sacrifice their nation made to defeat Germany.

Estonia's decision to move the Red Army memorial from the centre of capital Tallin to a military cemetery sparked violent protests by the Russian-speaking minority in the country, as well as a diplomatic crisis with Moscow.

Poland's relations with Russia are also tense over historical grievances, exacerbated by Warsaw's interest in hosting part of a US missile defence system that Moscow has denounced as an attempt to weaken its security.

Moscow has portrayed Poland -- like Estonia, a new European Union member -- as Russophobic, blaming Polish authorities for hurting EU-Russian relations.

Poland has blocked talks between the bloc and Russia because of a Moscow ban on Polish meat.

Some Polish commentators said the question of what to do with some 50 Red Army monuments scattered across the country should be left to local communities. Others said the government was right to step in.

''The Russians pushed the Germans out of our country -- for this they deserve gratitude and respect,'' Rzeczpospolita daily wrote in an editorial.

''But there was also the other side ... when the Red Army liberated Poland from Nazism, it treated it as a conquered land.'' REUTERS RS HS2120