- Compassion - that's the key word, she says.
We meet Vera Stremkovskaya at the monument of the same name on Lindholmen.
An outstretched hand from a concrete block protrudes between the high schools on Lindholmen in Gothenburg.
The monument is called Compassion and was made by the artist Eino Hanski who, like Putin, was born in St. Petersburg, but came to Sweden after World War II.
Vera Stremkovskaya firmly believes that the bond between the cities established in the 1960s should not be broken.
- We can not leave the people of St. Petersburg who are against the war in isolation.
I grew up in the Soviet Union and I know what that means.
It is believed that one's own ideology is the best and that everyone else is strange.
We need an exchange, she says.
Chairman of the Municipal Board: "Important marking"
The initiative to break the partnership was taken by the Social Democrats in Gothenburg on the same day as Russia launched its full-scale offensive in Ukraine.
The decision was then made by a unanimous municipal board on 10 March.
- We need to fight Putin and his illegal war on all fronts we can.
When we have succeeded in that, we can build relations with a new regime, says Axel Josefson (M), chairman of the municipal board.
What critical perspectives did you take before the decision?
- It is of course not an easy decision, it is also very rare that we as a city mark in foreign policy, but it is here the exception that confirms the rule.