"Toy Soldiers, illegal?" Topic

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Stupid. Without Nazi figurines, what, exactly, are those vaunted Red army heroes supposed to do battle with? Where is the context for kids? Germany won't allow swastikas on model airplanes, which is bad enough. Now Russian soldiers can't have their enemy modeled either. I guess that Russian figurines can be cast in two colors and fight each other….

Maybe the context for the kids is in all of their dead relatives.

Kinda hard to get context from dead relatives.

Detskiy Mir is back! Sounds like a prosecutor looking for a little publicity (this never happens in the US, right? :) ) Wargaming is safe…

Without Nazi figurines, what, exactly, are those vaunted Red army heroes supposed to do battle with?

They could still be used to "liberate" Poland, Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, as specified in the Molotov-Ribbentrop treaty. And then there are the clashes with Japanese forces in 1939 and 1945.

I guess that Russian figurines can be cast in two colors and fight each other

That one is known as the Russian Civil War.

They could be used in the 1946 campaign against the Americans, British and French.

The Western Allies with lose, of course, since by then Patton will be dead and all they'll have is Monty.

Yeah, just buy two boxes of Russians and call one lot 'Ukranian'.

The Western Allies with lose, of course, since by then Patton will be dead and all they'll have is Monty.

No, it's worse. With the defeat of Japan, MacArthur would be available!

Well, the prosecutor has to do something instead of investigating the murders of numerous journalists or the incredible amount of corruption in the country. And there's only so many anti-putin activists one can jail in a day…

It reopened this week after seven years of reconstruction.

I guess my context could be drawn from the members of my family killed in the Katyn Forest. Can't have it both ways I'm afraid.

DM

There's a difference between WW2 German combat troops and figures in Nazi regalia. Don't know what's been removed on the basis of that article. Zvezda still selling loads of WW2 German kit.

Thinking back to my childhood in 50s/60s UK, when WWII featured extensively in Airfix kits and figures, Britain's toy soldiers, boys' comics, TV shows and films, my friends and I often played war in the street using a variety of historically inaccurate weapons and plastic helmets.
Needless to say, no one wanted to be the Germans, and those dragooned into playing them were inevitably defeated – perhaps because they could bring themselves to put up a good fight for 'Jerry'. We saw the swastika amost daily on the sources cited above, and used to draw it on the paper darts we threw in the playground.
Neither we, nor our parents and grandparents (who had, of course, lived through the war) perceived this behaviour as disrespectful of our servicemen who had fought the Nazis; nor did it give us any sympathy for the latter.
I doubt any Russian child is endangered by these toys in the least. Just a money-grubbing lawyer out to make a name for himself…

My Russian patients tell me that in new Russia, nowdays, "Nazi" or "Fascist" is a synonym for"Ukrainian".

Russia seems to be completely fine with their companies releasing Chechen rebels though.
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It has been quite a while since Orion released those Chechen rebels.

Never mind that Orion is actually from Ukraine…

Are they? Didn't realise – I assumed they were Russian because PSW said so in the review.

(Remembers not to assume things as much)

Sorry, has anyone got a link with any real information in it? There was nothing regarding the legal position on swastikas etc in Russia in the Fox link, I wasn't expecting real facts there TBH.

Is the Russian position the same as it is in Germany where Swastikas and SS runes are illegal?

That would be interesting. I've been a big fan of the (slightly dubious) martial 'Neo-Folk' band Death in June for years. I think their LPs are banned in Germany because of their somewhat provocative cover art, but they sell fine in Russia without any issues.

BS story, from FOX news.

Military history and making/painting toy soldiers is big in Russia. Do not confuse Russia today with USSR where the only enemy soldiers made or legaly sold were medieval Germans and Mongols.

No sane prosecutor would do anything like this. The article would be more believable if they said it happened somewhere in USA.

"Sane prosecutor" can in many cases be another oxymoron.

You can hate on fox news all you want but that is an Associated Press story.

… but that is an Associated Press story.

Don't confuse the issue with facts.

There's a law, banning Nazi symbolics and ideology. It is not preventing publishing of books on German tanks, memoirs of German generals or indeed Zvezda kits on WWII.
I might have seen the figures in question…large scale, some painted, therefore while historically accurate, might be a victim of the above-mentioned law. I'd say it is still stupid – one of the hits of Soviet times was a film about Russian spy working in the heart of Nazi system, so most of the film he was wearing black SS uniform and was quite good looking in it…don't know if prosecutors found any "glorifying" of Nazi reich in the figures…
BTW, there was a long and bloody story of the building ownership, there were plans for shopping centre or hotel, so these unhappy investors might have decided to kick their opponents in the guts…and it might work just a month before 60th anniversary of WWII end…
Still stupid.

nevals, "Nazi" or "Fascist" is used to describe anyone who opposes the Russians or has different views than them.

Kinda like anti-zionists.

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This is a broad statement, only true to a small extent.

PS It seems there were "Dragon" busts of Skorzeni and unknown SS panzer captain, as well as some other WWII German soldiers. I've seen them in another shop of the same company…they were also selling lots of pirated stuff before.

Seems likely to just be someone trying to make a name for themselves.
I've seen people opine that selling Taliban miniatures should be illegal, though they weren't making legal cases.