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Russia is sporadically cracking down on people wearing blue and yellow, interpreting it as symbolism in support of Ukraine, according to the U.K. Defense Ministry's June 4 intelligence update.
After a care home worker was arrested for wearing a blue and yellow jacket last month, Russian National Guards also arrested a man near St. Petersburg for displaying a flag with those colors — it turned out to be a flag of Russia's Aerospace Forces.
This points to a paranoid atmosphere in Russia's "increasingly totalitarian system," according to the intelligence update.
Criticism of the arrests came from an unexpected party: the ultra-nationalist pro-war Liberal Democratic party, which also uses blue and yellow symbols, the ministry said.