In Vienna, 2 portraits of Alexei Navalny are painted near a monument to Soviet soldiers

VIENNA (AP) — Two large portraits of the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny have been spray-prainted on a property owned by the family of a former Czech foreign minister behind a monument to Soviet soldiers in Vienna. The portraits on the wall behind the monument, which already was painted in Ukraine’s blue and yellow national colors after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, were completed Wednesday. The wall belongs to the Palais Schwarzenberg, owned by the noble family of former Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, who died in November. The monument portraying a Soviet soldier was built after Soviet troops took Vienna in 1945.