British children's books seized by Russia after being branded 'extremist'

British children's books have been confiscated in Russia, with authorities branding them "extremist."

Customs officials in St Petersburg have confiscated a massive consignment weighing 12.7 tonnes, declaring the shipment contained "extremist content."

The federal customs service announced that 28 titles within the haul were flagged as containing prohibited content, though authorities declined to specify what made the books objectionable.

Valued at approximately £140,000, the seized goods included children's literature in both English and German, alongside dictionaries, educational cards and posters.

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"Expert assessment confirmed that the seized products contain prohibited information," the customs service stated.

An administrative case has been launched against the delivery company, which faces potential fines reaching 300,000 roubles, equivalent to roughly £2,950.

Among the confiscated titles was The Dinosaurs Who Met Santa Claus, a children's story featuring baby dinosaurs paying a visit to Father Christmas, who is depicted as a dinosaur himself.

Officials were filmed examining brightly coloured books including See Inside A Museum, My First Story Writing Book, and Eggs and Chicks, which teaches young readers about bird parenting.

Also seized was Baby's Very First Big Play Book, an interactive publication designed for toddlers aged two to four, featuring textured surfaces, concealed flaps and audio elements.

The consignment had been ordered by an unnamed Russian firm that specialises in importing foreign-language books and educational materials, according to the customs service.

The seizure reflects a dramatic expansion of state censorship since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Moscow's justice ministry now maintains a register containing more than 5,000 materials classified as extremist, with prohibitions on such content enabling authorities to suppress an increasingly broad range of publications.

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The national register of terrorists and extremists has grown exponentially, ballooning from approximately 1,600 entries in 2022 to exceed 18,000 by 2025.

Publications featuring anti-war sentiment, LGBTQ+ themes or criticism of the Russian state have all been targeted under the expanding legislation.

During the conflict's early stages, censors resorted to blacking out passages and sometimes entire pages written by dissenting authors.

It has since evolved to attaching warning labels to book covers before removing them from circulation entirely.

The justification for many bans remains unclear to observers.

A Russian book distributor last year ordered 37 titles withdrawn from sale and destroyed over suspected legal violations, including Jeffrey Eugenides' The Virgin Suicides and David Katz's An Oral History of Reggae.

Georgian-Russian author Boris Akunin, known for his historical detective fiction, has been placed on official registers of terrorists and extremists, resulting in his works being pulled from circulation.

Even Russia's most celebrated literary figures have not escaped the crackdown.

Works by Alexander Pushkin, the nation's revered poet, along with those of Nikolai Gogol, Ivan Turgenev and Leo Tolstoy, now require warning labels under new drug propaganda restrictions introduced last month.

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