(RFERL)- 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.
Ukrainian artist Andriy Yermolenko, on the other hand, sees the monthlong spectacle as an opportunity to shine a light on Moscow's perceived crimes and human rights violations in his country and around the world.
Inspired by Russia's forcible annexation of Crimea in 2014 and its support for armed insurgent forces in eastern Ukraine, Yermolenko has created a-growing collection of provocative, alternative World Cup posters that has taken the Ukrainian and Russian Internet by storm.
"You know, when the conscience switches on, it's very hard to muzzle it and make it shut up," Yermolenko told RFE/RL's Russian Service, adding that he had hoped Ukrainian government officials would do a better job of raising the alarm. "But I saw that everyone was silent. I could not remain silent."
Yermolenko's images, which he publishes to his personal Facebook page, are bold and jarring. In one, a silhouetted soccer player kicks a ball into an exploding plane to symbolize the July 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine with a missile that international investigators found to have come from Russia.
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