ABSTRACT

In 2004, as part of its campaign to revive public support for the armed forces (and to stem the tide of draft-dodging), the Russian ministry of defence issued a series of posters including one which sought to highlight soldiers’ roles in fighting crime. In garish tones and simple lines reminiscent of Soviet-era propaganda, the poster shows lantern-jawed soldiers holding at gunpoint swarthy criminals while a female police officer pulls contraband from their car. Vignettes in the background show masked commandoes taking out a terrorist and a Border Guard helicopter buzzing a smugglers’ boat, as the smugglers desperately dump their illegal cargo into the sea.