Police have confiscated a chess set featuring Nazi chess pieces from a store in central Moscow, reports the news website Yod.
The chess set featured 16 chess pieces made to look like German and Soviet soldiers. According to media reports, the uniforms on the German soldier figurines featured swastikas and symbols from real military units that participated in World War II.
The newspaper Moskovsky Komsolmolets writes that police believe the chess set is offensive and violates laws against Nazi symbols and promoting ethnic hatred. An expert committee is set to conduct a psycho-linguistic analysis of the chess set, and the owners of the store could be fined, depending on the results.
In 2014, Russia enacted a ban on “rehabilitating Nazism.” Those convicted face fines of up to 300,000 rubles (about $5,200) or prison terms of up to 3 years.
In early April, a toy store in Moscow received an official police warning for selling a series of figurines depicting famous Nazi soldiers, such as SS Sturmbannführer Colonel Otto Skorzeny.
For more on Russia’s anti-fascist censorship in stores and in the media, see Gone mad with political correctness: How Russia’s anti-fascist censorship has jumped the shark.
“The uniforms of the German soldier figurines feature the flag of Nazi Germany, SS symbols, caps, sleeve insignia, and collar insignia from units which actually participated in battles during World War II.”