A recently published "migrant’s guide" to the city of St. Petersburg has provoked an outcry from rights activists who claim that migrant workers are imaged as instruments of common labour.

      The informational brochure for citizens from former Soviet republics who come to St. Petersburg looking for work was published by a small non-profit publishing house. It contains cartoons depicting migrant workers as tools with human faces - a trowel, broom, paint roller and brush. Moreover, there many instructions in the brochure about how migrants should dress, speak and walk in the Russia's "cultural capital".

      Several human rights activist believe such brochures set residents against migrants and “are not conducive to tolerance.”

      The brochure's authors say they didn't plan to offend anybody and tools are just a kind of "living aid" or mascots. They add the brochure was shown to focus groups, including migrants from different countries, and nobody complained.

      However, the St. Petersburg Prosecutor’s Office said it will look into the case.