You're reading: RFE/RL: Ukrainian artist’s viral posters ‘red card’ World Cup host Russia

RFE/RL: Ukrainian artist’s viral posters ‘red card’ World Cup host Russia

Published June 14, 2018 at 7:16 pm

People hold placards with an appeal to boycott the Russia World Cup 2018 football tournament in front of the Russian Embassy in Kyiv on June 14, 2018, during a rally to demand the release Oleg Sentsov and other Ukrainian political prisoners in Russia.Ukrainian film director Oleg Sentsov, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence in Russia, will have spent a month on hunger strike in jail demanding that Russia release his fellow Ukrainians who he says are being held as political prisoners. To draw Western attention to Moscow's role in the four-year conflict in eastern Ukraine, Ukrainian artist Andriy Yermolenko made a series of graphic drawings that have become popular on Facebook.

Photo by AFP

The 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia doesn’t kick off until June 14, but one Ukrainian artist got a jump on its Russian hosts.

President Vladimir Putin views the international soccer championship as a chance for Russia to put its best face forward at a time when relations with the West are arguably worse than at any time since the Cold War. Russians are even getting smiling lessons to make foreign visitors feel welcome.