In St Petersburg, police have detained a teenager suspected of damaging a replica of the Victory Banner.

Police have detained a 17-year-old from St Petersburg suspected of damaging a replica of the Victory Banner, which was installed on the wall of a building on Tankista Khrustitskogo Street. This was reported by TASS, citing the press service of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for St Petersburg and Leningrad Region.

The torn fabric, discarded on the ground in the evening of 22 June, was discovered by local residents.

The Interior Ministry’s press office reported that, in the young person’s flat, police found “various objects indicating the teenager’s adherence to Nazi ideology.” The detainee’s name has not been disclosed.

The Investigative Committee has opened a criminal case for the ‘rehabilitation of Nazism’ (Part 3 of Article 354.1 of the Criminal Code). The teenager has been handed over to the agency “for further procedural action.”

25 June Police detained another suspect in the damage to the Victory Banner—an 18-year-old from St Petersburg, Fontanka reports.

The Investigative Committee also published a video yesterday with the first detainee, in which he says that while out for a walk with a friend on 22 June he noticed Soviet flags and decided to take them down, and apologises. One of the removed flags was found at his home.

26 June A third person has become a suspect in the case concerning damage to the Victory Banner, according to a statement by the St Petersburg branch of the Investigative Committee.

All three have been charged with desecrating a symbol of military glory (Part 3 of Article 354.1 of the Criminal Code).

“According to the investigation, on 22 June the three perpetrators removed and destroyed the ‘Victory Banner’ installed on the building on Tankista Khrustitskogo Street, thereby desecrating a symbol of Russia’s military glory,” the Investigative Committee’s statement reads.