Photo: Verstka

A court in the city of Omsk, in western Siberia, has banned 12 websites featuring photos and memes comparing Vladimir Putin to Adolf Hitler, investigative media outlet Verstka reported on Friday.

The call for the ban came directly from the Omsk Prosecutor’s Office, according to Verstka. The office said the images negatively impacted “the interests of society and the state” while encouraging “some people to commit terrorist activity and crime".

Doctored photographs of Putin sporting a Hitler-style moustache and hairstyle are the main focus of the ban. Also banned were images from the 2008 spy comedy film Hitler Goes Kaput! and photos with the caption Putler Kaput. Furthermore, the court banned a photo from a protest posted by popular Russian blogger and journalist Ilya Varlamov, which depicted a woman carrying a banner which read “Putler, drink poison until you eat lead”.

Also banned were a page on the poetry website Stikhi.ru featuring an image of Putin holding a gun to his head which is captioned “How to save Russia from shame”, and a mock-up of a newspaper front page where Putin pleads not guilty to charges in court.

It remains unclear how the ban can be enforced, or what the consequences of violating the ban would be.