DPA/Berlin

Members of a Russian motorbike gang whose victory ride to Berlin has rankled several governments laid carnations on Friday in memory of Russian soldiers at a Soviet memorial in Berlin.
Germany has refused entry to at least four members of the Night Wolves motorcycle club.
The more than 30 grizzled, leather-jacketed men who turned up for the Berlin ceremony were a mixed group, some of them sympathisers who live in Germany.
Several eastern European governments refused the pro-Kremlin club transit on a planned ride through Eastern Europe to mark Moscow’s victory over Nazi Germany 70 years ago.
German border police said the bike riders allowed in were not “full members” of the Night Wolves.
The ceremony was held at the German-Russian Museum, which preserves the site of the unconditional surrender of German forces in May 1945.
The bikers knelt down at a memorial stone outside, left their flowers and then visited the meeting room inside that has been preserved exactly as it was when German Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel signed the capitulation as Red Army top brass waited.
One biker voiced anger that Germany refused entry to some of the club.
“We are upset about that,” he said without giving his name.
He denied Russian President Vladimir Putin sent the group to Berlin.
He said the trip was the idea of Alexander Zaldostanov, the club leader, who is a friend of Putin.
The group began its tour April 25 in Moscow.
Germany’s government said it was dubious about the club’s so-called Victory Tour but let the ride proceed.
“The German government does not as a basic principle prevent people from commemorating the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II,” government spokesman Steffen Seibert said at the start of the week in Berlin.