On April 22, Berlin police issued an order that, from 6:00 a.m. on May 8 to 10:00 p.m. on May 9, bans the public display of Russian, Soviet, and Belarusian flags, as well as flags of the Chechen Republic, near the three Soviet memorials in Tiergarten, Treptower Park, and Schönholzer Heide. The ban also covers portraits of Vladimir Putin, Alexander Lukashenko, and Ramzan Kadyrov, St. George (so-called "Georgievsky") ribbons, the letters V and Z, military uniforms, decorations, Russian marches, and military songs. Limited exceptions apply to World War II veterans and diplomats. Following a complaint from Ukrainian associations in Germany, police excluded the flags of invaded Ukraine from the measure.
Berlin has repeatedly issued a similar police Allgemeinverfügung every year since 2022, the first year of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The restrictions are challenged annually by various associations: for example, in May 2025 the Berlin Administrative Court rejected an urgent motion (Eilantrag), arguing that displaying the Soviet flag could be seen as an expression of readiness for violence or sympathy for Russia's war against Ukraine. That same year, police deployed 1,900 additional officers on May 8 and approximately 900 officers on May 9 during the commemorative days.
In an analysis dated May 6, 2026, the American think tank Robert Lansing Institute frames the Berlin measure as part of a broader policy it calls a "counter-hybrid policy" — a response to what it describes as Moscow turning the memory of World War II into a political tool to justify the war against Ukraine. In its own analysis, the institute claims that German authorities systematically reject Russian narratives such as "Russia alone defeated Nazism" or the labeling of the Baltic states and Ukraine as "Nazi." According to the institute, similar though milder restrictions are also applied by Poland and the Baltic states.
The Berlin measure comes in the same week that Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico is traveling to Moscow — he is the only prime minister from an EU member state among the publicly confirmed guests of the May 9 celebrations. On May 4, Fico clarified that he will not attend the military parade itself, but will lay flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier of the Red Army on Red Square and is expected to have a brief meeting with Putin.
Read also: Three days until May 9: Fico is the only EU prime minister among the confirmed guests. The parade will be without tanks, the truce ends before midnight
Berlin will again restrict Russian, Soviet, and Belarusian symbols near memorials on May 8–9. Meanwhile, Fico flies to Moscow
This summary was generated by artificial intelligence. It may contain inaccuracies. Please verify information in the original sources below.
Sources (3)
Symbols of War: Berlin's Response to Russia's Politicization of WWII Memory
Robert Lansing Institute
| 00:00 06.05.
Germany To Ban Russian, Belarusian, And Soviet Symbols During May 8–9 WWII Commemorations
United24 Media
| 00:00 04.05.
Berlin to ban Putin portraits, Russian flags near Soviet memorials on May 8 and 9
NV.ua English
| 00:00 04.05.
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