To ensure a dignified tribute to the fallen soldiers of the Red Army, it is forbidden to appear with the Russian or Ukrainian flag at the events held at the Soviet memorials in Berlin on the 78th anniversary of the Second World War. War, the German capital’s police announced Friday.
At the commemorations organized on May 8 and 9, military songs and marching bands may not be played, and any expression appropriate to “recognize, glorify or promote the war in Ukraine” is prohibited, they said.
Last year, the use of Russian and Ukrainian flags was banned at commemorations organized in memory of Red Army soldiers who died in the liberation of Berlin. Ukraine’s embassy in Berlin strongly criticized the ban, regional public service media company Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB) recalled in its package on Friday.
A year later, the police justified the ban with the same arguments, explaining that the dignity of monuments and respect for monuments should be ensured even in the midst of war, and that in view of the anniversary, special attention should be paid to ensure war. A conflict that stretches the limits of democratic debate in Ukraine will not result.
This year too, the ban does not apply to diplomats and military personnel.
After World War II, several large-scale monuments were erected in Berlin to honor the more than 80,000 Soviet soldiers who died in the battle for the capital of Nazi Germany. The largest war memorial is located in the former Trepto Park in East Berlin, an almost 300,000 square meter military cemetery that is the resting place of nearly seven thousand Soviet soldiers.
(MTI)
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