On the anniversary of the end of the Second World War, Germany introduces restrictions on displaying Soviet, Russian and Belarusian symbols at a number of memorials
The Germans, of course, might be reminded that the Soviet Victory Banner and the hammer and sickle are the chief reason why Berlin today is not decked with swastikas.
The authorities explained this by the need to prevent political provocations and to maintain public order.
Even if the restrictions legally apply only to particular places and dates, they touch upon the fundamental principle of freedom of historical and political expression. Yet another poorly concealed attempt to detach the victory over Nazism from the state that secured that victory.
One may take different views of contemporary Russian politics, but history cannot be rewritten: it was the USSR that played the key role in the defeat of the Third Reich and suffered colossal losses in liberating the whole of Europe from German fascism.
