Every year before Halloween, religious groups and conservative politicians in Russia renew their calls to ban the celebration, saying it is an anti-Christian holiday that cannot coexist with the country's traditions.

Attempts to restrict the day have ramped up over the years, as Moscow’s relationship with the West has continued to deteriorate.

Two years ago, the leader of Russian-annexed Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, called Halloween a “means of cultural and spiritual aggression directed at destroying the traditional values of Russia.”

Here are some of the more bizarre attempts to regulate the holiday this year:



— Outspoken State Duma deputy Vitaly Milonov has called on the education ministry to ban Halloween, saying it is based on “the worship of dark mystical forces, Satan and the glorification of the traditions of dark Celtic death worship.”

— Priests from the Orthodox diocese in Chelyabinsk have warned that the “spiritual relativism” of Halloween can lead to incidents such as the Kerch school shooting of Oct. 17, in which 21 people were killed by a lone shooter.

— An archpriest from the Moscow region called on Orthodox believers to refrain from “going into those stinking taverns and getting drunk among all those pumpkins with candles,” on a day that is intended for “unscrupulous and brainless people.”