This spring, Russia has gone swastika mad. From the anonymous inmate of Sverdlovsk's Penal Colony 26 who tattooed a swastika on his body (he was fined 1,000 roubles), to toy soldiers in Third Reich uniforms on the shelves of Moscow’s largest children's department store (they were removed), a spate of swastika stories has flooded Russian media.
Russia's Investigative Committee is looking for the perpetrator of this neo-Nazi stunt, and a government agency with the Orwellian title of Rospatriotsentr (the Russian Youth Civic and Patriotic Education Centre) is asking people all over the country to inspect their local toyshops for dubious toys.
The swastika obsession
But it isn't just toys that are under investigation. While the Moscow city authorities are planning their own 'anti-Nazi' raids on shops (run by the capital’s anti-terrorist directorate), in Voronezh, women's sandals with decorative stitching reminiscent of a Luftwaffe chevron have also been withdrawn from sale.
