Latvian police arrested 19 people for displaying banned Soviet and Russian symbols during Victory Day celebrations on May 9 across the country. While in the West the victory over Nazi Germany is celebrated on May 8, commemorations and military parades have traditionally been held a day later in the post-Soviet region.
Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia were once Soviet Socialist Republics of the Soviet Union, but this period of their history is now officially considered to have been under foreign occupation; as a result, laws prohibit the use of most Soviet symbols. The three Baltic states have destroyed many World War II monuments since they declared independence in 1991.
The media outlet Jauns, citing the Latvian police, reported that the authorities had opened two criminal proceedings for “genocide, crime against peace and proof of war crimes”.
A man was allegedly detained for “listening to loud music” at the Salaspils memorial, the site of a Nazi concentration camp near Riga. The Russian channel RT, citing an eyewitness, said the man was listening to a popular Soviet song, “Zhuravli” (Darvak), written in the late 1960s and dedicated to fallen soldiers of World War II.
Other violations observed by Latvian police across the country included attempts to plant flowers at the site of decommissioned war memorials and cars displaying Soviet symbols.
Since the start of the conflict in Ukraine in February 2022, several other European countries have introduced similar restrictions, which have included many symbols associated with Russia. These include the flags of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, as well as the Latin letters Z and V, which symbolize Moscow’s military campaign against Ukraine. The St. George ribbon, which has been a popular symbol of Victory Day celebrations in Russia in recent years, has also been banned in many European countries.
A group of bikers wearing t-shirts and vests bearing the insignia of the “Night Wolves” motorcycle club arrived in Berlin’s Treptower Park, home to a major Soviet war memorial, on Thursday. According to Bild, there was a heavy police presence at the scene, with officers checking people for prohibited symbols and clothing, which included historic military uniforms and St. George’s ribbons. According to the medium’s report, a total of ten people were detained for various violations. According to the article, some managed to smuggle the prohibited items through the police cordons and some allegedly insulted the police.
Commenting on the ban by the Berlin authorities at a press conference in Moscow on Wednesday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marija Zakharova called it another manifestation of the “erasure of culture” in the West.
“They are also banning the songs that the Red Army soldiers sang when they liberated Berlin… Is this normal?” asked the diplomat. Zaharova added that such bans show the true face of “liberal democracy”.
A Foreign Office spokesman called on the Berlin authorities to lift the restrictions and “stop rewriting history”.
