The Kremlin is cracking down on people in Russia wearing clothing featuring blue and yellow, the colors of the Ukrainian flag that are often used to signal support of Kyiv in its fight against Russian invaders, British military intelligence officials said Sunday.

“Security officials are likely interpreting Russia’s draconian wartime legislation to mean that public display of blue and yellow items is outlawed because it might evidence discreet support for Ukraine,” U.K. officials said Sunday in their latest intelligence assessment.

But sometimes blue and yellow are just colors. A home care worker was taken into custody last month for wearing a blue-and-yellow jacket to work.

Meanwhile, Russian National Guard troops recently arrested a 22-year-old man near St. Petersburg for displaying a blue-and-yellow flag that turned out to be the one used by Russia’s own Aerospace Forces, British officials said.

“The clampdown highlights uncertainty within a paranoid Russian officialdom of what is deemed permissible within an increasingly totalitarian system,” British officials tweeted.

Even some strong supporters of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine have come out against Moscow’s ban on blue-and-yellow displays.

Russia’s ultra-nationalist and pro-war Liberal Democratic Party has criticized the policy because its branding features yellow on a blue background.

• Mike Glenn can be reached at mglenn@washingtontimes.com.