Authorities in Georgia's second largest city, Kutaisi, have started demolishing a memorial to WWII heroes in order to construct a parliament building.

Russia's Rossiiskaya Gazeta daily said on Wednesday that Kutaisi authorities aim to complete the demolition by December 21, President Mikheil Saakashvili's birthday.

The government has said that the relocation of the Georgian parliament from Tbilisi to Kutaisi will boost the development of western Georgia.

The move has sparked protests among Kutaisi residents and the Georgian opposition.

Sculptor Merab Berdzenishvili, the creator of the war memorial, said the demolition is an insult to the memory of thousands of Georgian soldiers who gave their lives in World War II.

The authorities have promised to erect a new memorial, saying that the old one was already partially destroyed and cannot be restored.

Russian Federation Council speaker Sergei Mironov called the destruction of the memorial "blasphemy".

"Georgia's decision to build a parliamentary building on the site of a memorial to those who gave independent Georgia a chance to construct such buildings is regrettable and confusing," he said.

MOSCOW, December 16 (RIA Novosti)