A Kremlin propaganda traveling exhibition is coming to Estonia

An exhibition called „A Journey to Victory“ has been compiled in Russia and is set to be exhibited in 20 European countries. Estonia is also on the list of countries where it is planned to be shown.

It is an exercise designed to disseminate the Kremlin’s one-sided view of ” events, rather than providing objective information about history. Although the exhibition is based on historical documents, they have been selected and presented one-sidedly to emphasize the positive role of the Red Army and Russia in the war. However, the destruction and suffering caused by the USSR are not mentioned. The continuing narrative of „the liberation of Europe“ throughout the exhibition presents Russia’s perspective as a superpower and overlooks the fact that during the „liberation“, some of the countries were occupied and incorporated into the USSR, while others were subjected to a forced obedience of a Kremlin ruled regime.

The exhibition has so far only been in Bulgaria, on September 9 in the capital Sofia, causing a scandal. The Bulgarian Foreign Ministry asked that the Red Army’s activities not be called a liberation and there was an anti-exhibition demonstration. Where the propaganda exhibition is headed next is not known, in addition to Bulgaria, the list of destinations includes Switzerland, France, USA, Israel, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Romania, Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Serbia, Slovenia, Austria, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.

When will the exhibition arrive in Estonia?

According to various sources, the propaganda show will arrive not before October 2019. The venue is still unclear, very probably an exhibition space. There are also speculations that the Russian embassy in Tallinn or the Russian cultural centre, the former officer’s house may be used.

Propastop is opposed to such a propagandistic endeavour reaching Estonia and invites readers to take action to prevent the exhibition from taking place in Estonia. One way to do this is to sign up to an initiative that calls for more attention to curbing propaganda channels.

The exhibition is part of the Kremlin’s soft power actions on the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II. This list includes the Salute in Moscow yesterday, September 22, 2019 dedicated to the conquest of Tallinn as well as related tourist trips, the creation of a virtual application for the Bronze Soldier, the screening of propaganda films and publishing related books. These efforts are expected to continue until at least 9. May 2020.

We also found a video from 2015, when a similarly named propaganda exhibition opened in Moscow. As can be seen in the story, the Kremlin’s propaganda attacks were aimed at Ukraine at the time, portraying nationalists as Nazi henchmen.

Pictures: Screenshots on the Bulgarian exhibition’s website: www.sbj-bg.eu