Russian investigators opened a criminal case Tuesday against a 16-year-old boy who allegedly expressed admiration for the 1939 Nazi invasion of Poland.
On the 75th anniversary of the invasion, the teenager posted a photograph of Nazi troops with words in support of the attack on a social media site, Russia's Investigative Committee alleged in a statement.
The case is the first of its kind under a law passed by Russia last year imposing criminal liability for rehabilitating or glorifying Nazism, the Kommersant newspaper reported Tuesday.
A campaign against fascist symbolism has gathered pace in Russia ahead of the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II on Saturday, with numerous new criminal cases and even shoes and toy soldiers sporting Nazi insignia reportedly among the objects targeted by investigators.
The teen, a resident of the southern city of Astrakhan, faces a prison term of up to three years if found guilty.
Less than three weeks after the Nazis attacked Poland from the west in 1939, Soviet Union troops rolled in from the east. President Vladimir Putin said Sunday that Moscow's agreement with Nazi Germany to carve up Poland was necessary to guarantee the Soviet Union's security.
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