The series “Sad Toys” reflects on the fates of World War II veterans, referred to in Russia as the Great Patriotic War, and which propaganda now equates with the current unjustifiable war in Ukraine.

The artist contemplates the fate of Great Patriotic War veterans who returned from the front as disabled individuals. He reminds us of how the Stalinist state of total terror, which the current political elite emulates so fervently, ordered with a single stroke of the pen that all disabled veterans be removed from the streets of cities. This was done to maintain the image of a great victory and to erase the memories of the sacrifices made. These veterans were sent to the distant northern region of Valaam, to suffer and die away from the public eye.