Russian Post 'Insulted' by Comparison to Nazi SS Uniforms

Russian Post has rejected as an insult the comparisons between the service's newest uniform with that worn by Nazi soldiers.

Images of the recently unveiled uniforms flooded the Internet on Tuesday, leading some social media users to compare them with the black outfits worn by members of the Nazi's SS squadron.

Both the postal and Nazi uniforms are dark in color, and display braiding on the lapel and cuffs. There where postal workers wear a company emblem on their left arm, members of the SS would have displayed a Nazi swastika symbol.

Vadim Nosov, a spokesman for Russian Post, told the RIA Novosti news agency that the comparison was an insult to veterans.

"The uniform of postal management staff is dark blue, [but] office staff wear a lighter color. The uniforms in the photographs distributed online have simply been retouched to look black," he said.

Nosov also said that the design of Russian postal workers' outfits has been based on army uniforms since the time of tsar Peter the Great, and that braiding was added to the uniform following the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The Soviet Union lost more than 20 million men during World War II — more than any other nation — and its victory over Nazi Germany is remembered every year on May 9.