Military uniforms, military-style looks, and airsoft weapons banned at half of Russia’s cosplay festivals...

Military uniforms, military-style looks, and airsoft weapons banned at half of Russia’s cosplay festivals

At least 66 cosplay festivals in Russia have introduced restrictions on military uniforms, military-style looks, uniforms of security agencies, and related symbols, Vyorstka found after analyzing the regulations of 130 such events.

The ban on military looks occurs almost as often as the ban on “LGBT propaganda.” In some cases, only the uniforms of active security units are prohibited; in others, all military-style looks, including fictional and historical ones, are banned.

For example, AniFest in Krasnodar banned the “real uniforms of active troops and security agencies of any country”—but allowed “fantasy military-style looks that do not copy existing uniforms.”

“Chain mail is allowed, but a tactical vest with pockets is not,” the organizers of Cosplay Day in Tyumen formulate the principle.

At some festivals, not only uniforms but also insignia associated with the security apparatus are prohibited. The organizers of Moscow’s Arataka Fest note that the restrictions appeared “in connection with tighter oversight of events.”

“Wearing patches, symbols, and other identifying signs of real-life security and state structures is prohibited at the event, as are symbols close to the real thing or parodying them,” the organizers emphasize.

In a conversation with Vyorstka, Anna, a cosplayer and festival participant from Moscow, suggests that this “safety measure lowers the intensity of possible negative reactions.”

“Maybe you came in an SVO uniform, but you are not an SVO participant, and by doing so you might offend the feelings of SVO participants and provoke a conflict,” she says.

Read on Vyorstka’s website about which restrictions at cosplay festivals are most common now (with VPN):

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