About a square meter of the bronze flag in the Treptow Park memorial, erected in memory of Soviet casualties who fell in the final assault on Berlin, had been removed, the police said.
"We do not think this is political. Non-ferrous metals often get stolen," the police spokesman said, adding that they have opened an inquiry into the incident, but have yet to deliver any specific results.
The Russian Embassy in Berlin expressed regret at what its press secretary Vyacheslav Kuchko described as the second case of vandalism at the site this month.
"On April 2, somebody tore off nearly five square meters from the same metal flag," he said. He said the local authorities have reported doing everything possible to find the perpetrators.
The embassy, he said, agreed that the monument has suffered a simple "metal hunt," which could result in serious implications regarding the monument's symbolic value.
He could not say whether local services, who are legally responsible for the state of the monument, would carry out the necessary repairs before VE Day when WWII veterans lay wreaths at Treptow Park.
"Metal thieves" are usually after base metal which they sell to scrap metal dealers. Desperate people vandalize public memorials, steal drain covers, and sometimes even operating power transmission cables.
