Foreign leaders arrive in Moscow for Victory Day celebrations

Germany’s ban on Soviet and Russian Victory Day symbols at major World War II memorials in Berlin came into force on Friday and will remain in place until 10 PM on May 9. The restrictions apply to the Soviet memorials in Tiergarten, Treptower Park and Schoenholzer Heide and prohibit the display of Russian, Soviet, Belarusian flags, military uniforms and insignia, including St. George ribbons. Russian military songs and marches are also banned, although some exemptions apply to diplomats and WWII veterans.

Russia has repeatedly condemned efforts across Europe to restrict Soviet-era symbols during WWII commemorations, accusing Western governments of trying to rewrite history and downplay the USSR’s role in defeating Nazi Germany. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said last month that some in the West appear to see the Soviet victory in WWII as an “accident” they now seek to “rectify.”

German authorities are discriminating against Russia by banning Soviet flags and St. George ribbons during Victory Day commemorations, former European Parliament member and Alternative for Germany politician Gunnar Beck has told RT.

READ MORE: German ban on Soviet WWII symbols is ‘discrimination’ – former MEP (VIDEO)

Beck argued that Berlin had not imposed similar restrictions on symbols linked to other Allied powers that defeated Nazi Germany in World War II. “There is absolutely no basis for such discrimination against Russia,” he said, stressing that the Soviet Union had suffered the highest casualties and made the “greatest single contribution” to defeating Nazism.

Russia’s embassy in Berlin condemned the restrictions on Soviet and Russian Victory Day symbols at WWII memorials as “absurd and cynical,” arguing they were aimed at preventing descendants of Soviet soldiers and visitors from properly commemorating the defeat of Nazi Germany.

Earlier, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accused German Chancellor Friedrich Merz of bringing “shame” on the country over the restrictions.

Despite the ban, commemorative events, including marches by the “Immortal Regiment” – a public procession in which participants carry portraits of relatives who fought against Nazi Germany in World War II – are scheduled across Germany this week. Organizers said the Berlin procession on May 9 would proceed under the imposed limitations.

The administration of US President Donald Trump had “fundamentally changed” Washington’s attitude toward Victory Day commemorations, Russia’s ambassador to the US, Aleksandr Darchiev, has said. He noting that the “Immortal Regiment” marches had been held in downtown Washington for the past two years.

Speaking at a reception at the Russian embassy in Washington marking the 81st anniversary of the Soviet victory in World War II, Darchiev said representatives of the White House and the State Department attended the event. He added that during a recent phone call, the Russian and US presidents had highlighted the importance of the wartime alliance between the Soviet Union and the United States.

People taking part in an ‘Immortal Regiment’ march in Washington. ©  Russian Embassy in the US

Residents of the Baltic states are expected to mark Victory Day by laying flowers on empty lawns and former memorial sites due to restrictions imposed on Soviet war monuments, activist Maksim Reva told RIA Novosti on Thursday.

Since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have accelerated the removal of Soviet-era WWII monuments and memorials, arguing they symbolize Soviet occupation, while Moscow has condemned the move as an attempt to erase the Soviet role in defeating Nazi Germany.

Reva said people in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania continue to visit the locations of removed WWII memorials despite official bans and police monitoring. He recalled that residents in the Estonian city of Narva last year placed flowers in the grass where a Soviet T-34 tank monument once stood, while similar commemorations took place in Riga.

Some 59% of people polled in Russia consider Victory Day the country’s most important holiday, according to a study published by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VTSIOM) earlier this week.

Eight decades after the conclusion of the world’s deadliest conflict, reflections on triumph in the Great Patriotic War “continue to unite generations, having become a shared collective memory. The vast majority of our fellow citizens are convinced that May 9 represents the greatest victory in Russia’s entire history,” the pollster noted.

The Motherland Calls monument is illuminated in the colors of the Russian flag during the Light of the Great Victory show on Mamayev Kurgan memorial complex ahead of Victory Day marking the 81st anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two, in Volgograd, Russia. © Sputnik / Kirill Braga

“Immortal Regiment” marches and other Victory Day commemorative events are already underway in a number of countries ahead of the 81st anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry.

“Hundreds of people carrying portraits of their heroic ancestors” have marched through “Washington D.C., New York City, Geneva, Kinshasa, Tokyo, and Kuwait City,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said during a weekly press briefing on Thursday.

Zakharova added that Russian diplomats abroad are “congratulating veterans, paying tribute to the feat of Soviet soldiers by laying flowers at memorials and graves of those who fell liberating Europe, taking part in Immortal Regiment marches with portraits of their ancestors,” as well as organizing “the St George Ribbon and Garden of Memory campaigns.”

She said “solemn receptions will be held at Russian missions abroad with the participation of compatriots, friends of our country, and all those who remember and honour the feat of the Soviet people.”

The Austrian authorities have refused to permit a tree-planting ceremony on May 9 commemorating the victims of the Mauthausen Nazi concentration camp, the organizers of the ‘Garden of Memory’ campaign have said.

The event at the Mauthausen Memorial has been preliminary rescheduled for June 22, when Russia marks the Day of Remembrance and Mourning, they told Tass. On June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union without a declaration of war, instigating what Russians now remember as the Great Patriotic War.

Some 30,000 Soviet POWs and civilians died during the Second World War at the Mauthausen Nazi concentration camp, located 20 km east of the Austrian city of Linz.

More than 160 million trees have been planted in 101 countries as part of the ‘Garden of Memory’ campaign, initiated by Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2020.

FILE PHOTO: The former Nazi concentration camp Mauthausen in Austria. © Sputnik / Vladimir Fedorenko

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko will be among the top officials attending the Victory Day parade on Red Square and other events in Moscow on May 9, commemorating the 81st anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany, the Belarusian leader’s office has said in a statement.

Lukashenko will also hold talks with Vladimir Putin, who invited him to the Russian capital, discussing bilateral relations and international issues, the statement read.

The president will return home the same day to take part in Victory Day events in the Belarusian capital, Minsk, it added.

Additional measures to protect Russian President Vladimir Putin have been implemented in response to Vladimir Zelensky’s threat to target the Victory Day parade with drones, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said.

When asked by journalists if the president’s security is being beefed up, Peskov replied, “undoubtedly.”

Putin is scheduled to attend the parade on Red Square on May 9 alongside the leaders of Slovakia, Malaysia, Belarus and other countries.

Russian authorities announced last month that the parade will be on a smaller scale than in 2025, when the 80th anniversary of victory over Nazi Germany was celebrated, and will not include tanks or other military hardware. Peskov subsequently attributed the decision to the Ukrainian “terrorist threat.”