Irish Examiner View: Permitting Russian ‘Victory Day' commemoration can show democracy is stronger than totalitarianism

Organisers plan to mark Victory Day in Dublin, not as a demonstration of pro-Russia sentiment, but as a sombre tradition to remember those who died in the Second World War

Self-propelled artillery vehicles Msta-S drive past the Winter Palace in St Petersburg, Russia, during a rehearsal for the Victory Day military parade. Picture: Dmitri Lovetsky/AP

This weekend, which leads into the Russian ‘Victory Day’ celebrations on Monday commemorating the outcome of the Great Patriotic War against Nazi Germany, will be hugely fraught.

In Europe, the sixth tranche of sanctions announced by European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen is the most serious to date and will usher in a phased ban on all Russian oil imports.