The Kremlin’s propaganda failed to relaunch the Narva tank

In October, a new ambitious project called the “Monument Sanctuary” was launched in Moscow with great pomp. The creators of the project are the company Dobro Agency and the reputable newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda. The project is supported by key organizations, including the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Russian Military-Historical Society, the Presidential Fund for Cultural Initiatives, and Rossotrudnichestvo, a federal agency responsible for affairs related to the CIS, compatriots living abroad, and international humanitarian cooperation. The project was presented as a one-of-a-kind collection of interactive monuments, virtually recreated in 3D format, with no analogs in the world.

The (infamous) spokesperson for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zakharova, presented the project in an official press release: “Projects like this demonstrate public support for the efforts initiated by our department many years ago. These efforts began back when the trend of relocating monuments abroad was not yet widespread.” The project’s author, Maxim Bobrov, added: “Over the past thirty years, hundreds of Russian monuments have been dismantled abroad, and this trend will only intensify. The most important of these monuments will appear in the sanctuary. You can destroy a monument, but you cannot destroy the memory of our ancestors’ heroic deeds.”

Unfortunately, Bobrov did not keep his promise—the virtual “Monument Sanctuary” has been online for about a year. Still, not a single new monument has been added to the initial nine. The reason likely lies in the fact that it’s easy to put something online, but much harder to generate interest in web content.

The battle for monuments moves into the online space

“The ‘Monument Sanctuary’ is not the first project aimed at transferring the battle over monuments into the virtual world. Five years ago, Propastop wrote about a similar initiative. In 2019, the pro-Kremlin youth movement ‘Set’ (Network) created an app that, using augmented reality, virtually brought back the Bronze Soldier and the ‘eternal flame’ burning in front of it to Tõnismägi.”

The app, called Cyber History, worked on iPhones. When the user pointed their phone at the location where the monument used to stand, they would see the Bronze Soldier on their screen in its supposedly original form, using augmented reality. At that time, Russian propaganda outlets such as Izvestia, Regnum, Vzglyad, and others wrote about the project. However, the project, created with the technology available at the time, turned out to be so complicated to use that it’s unlikely anyone actually used it, and the only people who benefited from it were its creators. This is evidenced by the fact that the last virtual projects by “Set” date back to 2020, although the website of the pro-Kremlin organization is still accessible online.

In the crosshairs: Estonia, Poland, Ukraine, Czechia, and Latvia.

Among the nine projects presented in the “sanctuary” created in the fall of 2023, two are dedicated to Estonia—the Bronze Soldier and the tank in Narva. From Warsaw, they included monuments to the Soviet-Polish military brotherhood and the Red Army, as well as a monument to General Ivan Chernyakhovsky from Pieniężno. The “sanctuary” also includes the Riga Monument to the Liberators, the Soviet Army Battle Glory Monument in Lviv, the monument to General Nikolai Vatutin in Kyiv, and the monument to Marshal Ivan Konev in Prague. According to Hellear Lill, the director of the War Museum, this propaganda project selected those monuments in Estonia, Latvia, Poland, Ukraine, and the Czech Republic that are most significant to the “Russian world” and are tied to the narrative of the Great Patriotic War.

“Russia has always sought to use these monuments to convey its political and cultural message,” Lill explains in an interview with Propastop. “That’s precisely why they were removed or relocated from public spaces. The attempt to transfer them into the virtual world only confirms that their dismantling was necessary.” Lill is convinced that virtual monuments cannot have the same impact as their physical presence. “The question is about who controls public space. Virtual monuments do not allow the ‘Russian world’ to maintain a presence on foreign soil. Moreover, their presentation in digital format is quite modest,” Lill notes. The War Museum is planning to launch a database soon, containing photographs and information about monuments removed from public spaces in Estonia. Many of these monuments have found a new home in museums. Lill also reminds us that the monuments selected for the Moscow project have been preserved in Estonia, but are now located in different places.

“The Bronze Soldier, as a gravestone, was relocated to the Military Cemetery along with the remains of those buried there back in 2007, and the T-34 tank from Narva is now housed in our War Museum,” explains the museum director.

From a technical standpoint, the “Monument Sanctuary” created by the Russians turned out to be quite primitive: the 3D technologies were poorly implemented, and the virtual tour of the sanctuary leaves little impression. Despite being promoted not only in “Komsomolskaya Pravda” but also in other major and minor Russian media outlets, the project likely got lost in the flood of patriotic propaganda and failed to attract attention due to its mediocre execution.

Lies in the accompanying text

The text accompanying the Bronze Soldier on the “Monument Sanctuary” contains factual errors. It claims that the relocation of the monument in 2007 sparked mass protests and bloodshed in several Estonian cities, which is not true. Regarding the Narva tank, the text states that it was installed as a monument in 1970 and was relocated to the Viimsi War Museum in 2022 by order of the Estonian government, allegedly against the protests of local residents.

“In reality, the T-34/85 model was not used in this area in 1944,” explains War Museum Director Hellar Lill. “These tanks were decommissioned by the Soviet Army in the late 1960s and were used to create monuments throughout the Soviet Union. The tank in Narva was not an exception in Estonia.”

Now, in the museum setting, the Narva tank has been stripped of its propagandist symbolism and is presented as part of the history of World War II and military technology. “This tank has attracted many Russian-speaking visitors to our museum, allowing them to learn more about the real history of Estonia and, more importantly, a more honest account of World War II events than the narrative presented by our eastern neighbour,” notes Lill.

The Kremlin is investing significant resources in the war over monuments

Although the virtual project “Monument Sanctuary” failed, it’s worth noting its strong backing. The Russian Military-Historical Society, one of the project’s main sponsors, is a powerful organization generously funded by both the state and oligarchs. In the society’s activity report for last year, it is noted: “During its existence, the society has installed 250 monuments both in Russia and abroad.”

Among them are the monument to Tsar Nicholas II in Belgrade, the monument “To Russian and Soviet Soldiers Who Fell on the Territory of Slovenia During the First and Second World Wars” in Ljubljana, the monument to Alexander Nevsky on the eastern shore of Lake Peipus, the monument to Mikhail Kalashnikov in Moscow, and many others.

“Monuments are erected in all societies to convey history and cultural values, allowing people to feel connected to the ideals of their time. But for totalitarian regimes, monuments play a special role—they become tools for shaping historical consciousness and manipulating public opinion,” explains Hellar Lill. He adds, “Russia uses monuments as a way to demonstrate its power beyond its borders. These monuments say more about those who erect them than about those in whose honour they are established.”