'Holocaust on ice' dance in Russia causes outrage

A pair of skaters have caused outrage after appearing on the Russian equivalent of Dancing on Ice dressed as concentration camp prisoners.

Tatiana Navka - the wife of Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov - performed the routine on Saturday's episode of Ice Age.

The former Olympic ice skater and partner Andrei Burkovsky wore striped uniforms bearing yellow six-pointed stars.

The pair had also been heavily made up to look bruised and frail.

The routine was based on Life Is Beautiful, the Academy Award-winning Italian film about a Jewish father who pretends for the sake of his son the Nazi camp they are imprisoned in is just a game.

Navka and Burkovsky - a Russian actor - smile and pretend to shoot at each other as part of the dance.

The pair later told Russian media it was their way of paying homage to Holocaust victims.

The dance was choreographed by 2002 Olympic silver medallist Ilya Averbukh, who is Jewish.

Averbukh, who has previously said he "had problems" in his childhood because of his Jewish name, stood by the Holocaust-themed dance.

"This routine is my idea. I have done a lot of routines on the war and Jewish themes, there were very different characters."

Earlier this year, the Russian version of Strictly Come Dancing came under fire for depicting a Nazi soldier and a terrified Jewish girl - who dies at the end of the routine.