Russian officials have ordered to inspect and remove books by well-known British historians John Keegan and Antony Beevor from libraries, saying they promote Nazi-era stereotypes.

The move is among a raft of measures to streamline historical narrative by limiting alternative viewpoints, as well as ending the perceived foreign influence from fields such as education.

The regional education ministry in Sverdlovsk, near the Ural Mountains, issued a decree telling school and university libraries to 'check the availability of books' by the historians and 'take measures to remove them from access by students and teaching staff'.

'Liberators': Red Army soldiers march through the bombed out remains of Berlin in 1945

Targeted: The works of British historians John Keegan (left) and Anthony Beevor (right) have been accused of promoting Nazi-era propaganda

Both Keegan, who died in 2012, and Beevor are reputed military historians with a focus on World War II.

Beevor's award-winning bestsellers, particularly 'Berlin: The Downfall 1945', have been criticised in Russia for focusing on appalling atrocities committed by the advancing Red Army.

Sverdlovsk officials claimed that unspecified books by the authors 'propagate stereotypes formed during the Third Reich.

A spokeswoman for the region's governor, Yulia Voronina, confirmed the decree to AFP, adding that the library inspection was ongoing.

The regional administration named authors John Keegan and Antony Beevor as providing 'misinterpreted information about World War II events' which they claim contradict historical documents.

The news comes after Russia's President Vladimir Putin ordered the creation of one approved line of history textbooks for all Russian schools in 2013.

The single historical narrative will 'show the chronology of events and their official evaluation' and is set be introduced to the school system this year.

Russia - locked in its worst standoff with the West since the Cold War over the Ukraine crisis - has recently intensified its campaign against Western influences.

According to the Sverdlovsk authorities, Beevor and Keegan's books have been published in Russia by the Open Society Foundations of US billionaire philanthropist George Soros.

Jubilant celebrations: Soviet troops march past as part of the victory parade in Berlin. Horrific atrocities were committed against the local women by the Russian Red Army 'liberators'

Destroyed: The smashed rubble and burnt out remains of the German capital city of Berlin

Celebrations: Children link arms with soldiers to celebrate the long awaited end to World War II

According to the Sverdlovsk authorities, Beevor and Keegan's books have been published in Russia by the Open Society Foundations of US billionaire philanthropist George Soros (pictured)

Last month the upper house of parliament drew up a list of 'undesirable' organisations recommended for banning, including the Soros foundations.

Russia's education ministry on Monday ordered officials to comb through textbooks for any 'inauthentic data' or information deemed 'propaganda of war' in order to draw up a register of approved publishers.

The Moscow-based Sova center, which has received funding from Soros' foundations and works on monitoring nationalism and xenophobia in Russia, said the campaign against history books is ideologically motivated.

The books do contain 'criticism of the Soviet leadership and mention facts about violence by the Soviet army against Germany's civilian population,' the centre said in a statement on its website.

'The authorities are trying to justify ideological control over educational literature by these loud and unsubstantiated allegations,' it said.

Soros' Open Society Foundations, which no longer have offices in Russia, have been accused by authorities in the country for allegedly trying to meddle with Moscow's internal affairs.

They had funded a book programme in Russia which supplied regional libraries at a time when state funding ran dry.

Several Russian troops load rocket launchers on a battered suburb in Berlin in April 1945

V for Victory: Soviet soldiers throw their helmets into the air and celebrate victory in the German city