The Soviet War Memorial in Berlin’s Tiergarten commemorates Russian soldiers killed during the assault on the city in 1945. About 2,000 of the fallen are buried beneath it. Two tanks stand sentry on plinths in front of a columned walkway topped by a huge statue.

RUSSIA and the European Union clashed yesterday over democratic freedoms in Russia at a contentious summit on the banks of the Volga River.

Nato today called on Russia to stop threats against Estonian embassy staff in Moscow and to resolve its dispute with the Baltic state stemming from the removal of a Soviet war memorial.

An emotional wreath-laying ceremony was held at the Soviet War Memorial in London today as the loss of 27 million soldiers and civilians from the former USSR in the Second World War was commemorated.