BERLIN, May 1. /TASS/. Ukraine’s Ambassador to Germany Andrei Melnik has turned down an invitation of Berlin’s Mayor Muchael Muller to take part in a commemorative ceremony to mark the 75th anniversary of Nazi defeat, alongside with Russian and Belarusian diplomats, Der Tagesspiegel said on Friday.
According to the newspaper, invitations were sent to the three ambassador. Muller planned, together with the three diplomats, to lay a wreath to the building in Schulenburgring street in the Tempelhof district that housed the headquarters of the 8th Soviet army at the end of World War II. This was where German General Helmuth Weidling signed the order of surrender.
"The ceremony was meant to venerate the memory of Russian and Belarusian soldiers of the Red Army who took Berlin," Muller’s spokesperson noted.
Melnik turned down the invitation, saying that he "could not see himself laying wreaths with a Russian diplomat even in a nightmare," Der Tagesspiegel said. He once again accused Moscow of aggression against his country and annexation of Crimea. "No joint participation in commemorative events is possible," he said, adding that the Berlin mayor "apparently ignores such flagrant facts."
The newspaper recalled that Russian and Ukrainian ambassadors have not been taking part together in any events marking the end of World War II for five years in a row.
Muller and Russian Ambassador to Germany Sergei Nechayev will lay a wreath in Schulenburgring street on Saturday.