Berlin WWII event snubs Russian, Belarusian envoys over Ukraine war
German foreign ministry blacklists ambassadors, citing risk that commemorations could be ‘exploited and misused’ to justify Russian invasion
BERLIN — The envoys of Russia and Belarus will not be invited to an official event in the German parliament to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, a spokeswoman said Thursday.
The event at the Reichstag on May 8 comes amid tensions among former wartime allies over the war in Ukraine.
“The decision [was taken] not to invite the ambassadors of Russia and Belarus, among others,” a parliament spokeswoman told AFP.
President Frank-Walter Steinmeier will give a speech, and young people will read from accounts of the war’s end written by contemporaries.
The organizers had “deliberately avoided” an international focus and no guests based abroad would be invited, the spokeswoman said.
The German foreign ministry had on Wednesday warned against inviting representatives from Russia and Belarus.
While Russia’s role in the end of World War II should be “honored,” there was a risk that commemorations could be “exploited and misused to justify [Russia’s] war of aggression against Ukraine,” a spokesman for the ministry said.
The advice came as a row broke out over the Russian ambassador being invited to a commemorative event on Wednesday to mark the anniversary of the Battle of the Seelow Heights, one of the final assaults of the war.
Ukrainian ambassador Oleksii Makeiev said it was “inappropriate” that “a representative of a criminal regime that attacks my country every day with missiles, bombs and drones” was taking part.
The participation of the Russian ambassador in the event in Brandenburg, near Berlin, was “a sign of how the Russians are exploiting World War II for their own ends,” Makeiev said.
Germany has been a staunch supporter of Ukraine since Russia’s invasion in February 2022 and has been the second-biggest provider of military aid to Kyiv after the United States.
But Berlin has been forced to take a back seat in negotiations to end the war pushed by US President Donald Trump, as it has been in political limbo since an election in February.
Friedrich Merz, whose conservative CDU/CSU alliance won the vote, is due to be sworn in as chancellor on May 6, just two days before the World War II commemorations.
The Times of Israel Community.