A cat, bearing the resemblance of Adolf Hitler over a swastika on the cover, is enough for Pulitzer prize-winning graphic novel "Maus" to be pulled out from bookstores all over Russia in order to comply with law.

In December, the Russian government passed a law that forbids any form of Nazi propaganda, including Swastikas. All symbols of Nazism have been declared as offensive to the "people's religious feeling [sic]", city officials announced. Raids throughout the country have been set as Russia's celebration of Victoria Day on May 9 looms. Antique shops and various merchandising stores are among those that have been affected by the law.

Author of the critically-acclaimed book, Art Spiegelman, speaks out about the issue in an interview with The Guardian. According to the 67-year-old American cartoonist, withdrawing the graphic novel from the shelves is "a real shame". The "Maus" creator further explained that the book "is a book about memory. We don't want cultures to erase memory."

"Maus", a postmodern graphic novel, which was serialized from 1980 to 1991, features talking animals depicting various races, including mice as Jews, and cats as Germans. It follows the story of Spiegelman as he interviews his father about his experiences during World War II as a Polish Jew and a Holocaust survivor.

The part-memoir, part-fiction book became the first ever graphic novel to win the highly-coveted Pulitzer Prize in 1992.

While the author recognizes that the book's cover have faced earlier censorship in another country, Spiegelman believes that "Maus" is "not the intended target" of the Russian government's crackdown on anything Nazi-related.

"But I think [the law] had an intentional effect of squelching freedom of expression in Russia. The whole goal seems to make anybody in the expression business skittish," Spiegelman said.

Russia's celebration of Victory Day commemorates the country's victory over the Nazis 70 years ago. A parade in Moscow is set to happen on May 9. The day has also been declared a non-working holiday across the country.

In line with this, Spiegelman believes that banning "Maus" as part of the country's celebration is "ironic". "Stalin, after getting us into helping start world war two ... was probably responsible for making the Russians liberate a lot of those camps that helped my father survive," he said.

The book's publisher, Corpus, further insists that the "Maus" should not have been banned in Russia. "There is no Nazi propaganda in it. This is a book that should be on the shelves on Victory Day," Corpus' chief editor Varva Gornostayeva said.

As an act to show his disapproval over the removal of his book, Spiegelman said, "A tip of the hat for Victory Day and a middle finger for trying to squelch expression." Other European nations have also showed disinterest over the celebration in relation to to Russia's involvement with Ukraine.