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The wife of Vladimir Putin's official spokesman performed a staggeringly tasteless Holocaust-themed ice dance on a Russian reality TV show last night.

Tatyana Navka was taking part in Ice Age, the Russian equivalent of Dancing on Ice.

She and her partner, TV actor Andrew Burkovsjy sported striped death camp pyjamas emblazoned with yellow Stars of David.

They also appeared to be wearing make-up to make them look gaunt.

Navka is married to Dmitry Peskov, Vladimir Putin's press spokesperson. She is an Olympic gold medallist and a two-time world champion.

She and her partner begin the performance with sombre expressions, but as the music kicked in they broke into broad grins, which they maintained for the duration of the dance.

The dance was choreographed to the song Beautiful that Way, which featured in the Oscar-winning 1997 Italian Holocaust comedy film Life Is Beautiful.

The judges on the show gave the dancers the maximum possible score of four sixes. Ice dancing was formerly scored out of six rather than 10, before a change to the scoring system in 2004.

(Image: AFP / Getty)

(Image: Getty)

However, while the routine has clear references to the film and is somberly acted at times, one point Navka appears to shoot her partner with a machine gun.

Burkovsjy also appears to perform a Nazi salute and goose-step across the ice with a smile on his face.

The routine closes with the sound of a firing squad.

One of the judges, a fan of the film, says they found "beauty and humour, even in the camps showing the strength of the human soul which allowed people to cope with the horrors".

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He told the couple: "The Benigni film is excellent and, I have to say, you translated the spirit of that film beautifully. It’s a wonderful film and a wonderful routine which absolutely brought out the essence and the spirit of the film magnificently."

Another judge called for the audience to make sure they studied history, explaining it shows "how important it is to value one another, love one another and see the light and look after it - in yourself and around you."

The third judge simply stood and said: "Thank you."

The Jerusalem Post described the performance as "chilling."

They note the performance is not the first time the Holocaust has been used as the theme of a dance in a Russian reality show.

In April, Russia's version of Strictly Come Dancing featured a dance involving a Nazi officer searching for a young Jewish girl hiding behind a piano.

When she is discovered, he is overcome by her beauty and the pair dance to Fly Me To The Moon by Frank Sinatra.