According to a report on Wednesday, Russian police are investigating a strange circus representation with a monkey dressed as a Nazi and goats with swastikas.
The animals were captured on camera marching around the Ummurtia state circus in Izhevsk, with manipulators dressed in Soviet uniforms last week, according to the UK Sun.
Wild images show goats with layers of red swastika sporting them next to a monkey wearing a formal black Nazi uniform.
The action, seen by children and commissioned by the Russian Orthodox Church, may violate a Russian law banning the display of Nazi symbols, the media reported.
Local police and prosecutors are studying whether the show glorifies Adolf Hitler or Nazi culture.
But the church said the artists simply used animal actors to represent the country’s historic victory over Hitler during World War II.
“The performance of trainers wearing Soviet military uniforms with animals wearing Nazi symbols was used as an image not only of the victory over fascism,” a church representative said at the exit. “[It depicts] world condemnation of the ideals of Nazi Germany “.
The circus added that no one participating in the event is actually bananas for the Third Reich.
“Coaches in the form of Red Army soldiers [were] chasing animals trained with Nazi symbols, “the circus representative said.
Last year, Vladimir Putin signed an exemption to allow the use of swastikas in representations if they represented Nazis in a negative way.