The party United Russia in the northern region of Murmansk has published pictures on social media where grieving mothers receive flowers and meat grinders ahead of International Women's Day, which is widely celebrated in Russia.
In the post, the mothers were thanked for their "strong spirit and the love you have put into raising your sons".
The post was met with comments calling it "shameful" and "inappropriate".
Russia has repeatedly been accused of sending its soldiers to the front line straight into a "meat grinder", where so many are killed.
The word "meat grinder" has the same double meaning in Russian as it does in Swedish.
The party's local branch in the city of Poljarnije Zori defends the action, saying that critics are making "emotionally cold and provocative interpretations" of the gifts. According to the mayor Maxim Tjengajev, the meat grinders were not part of the original idea, but "a woman asked for it, and of course we couldn't say no", the party reports.
