To mark the 9th of May, the Narva Museum displayed a large new poster with a composite portrait of Vladimir Putin and Adolf Hitler on the wall of Hermann Palace facing Russia. The image is seen from across the Narva River on the Russian side, on Friday, the 9th of May, reports Estonian broadcaster ERR.
Since 2023, the museum has displayed a poster at the castle tower which describes Putin as a “war criminal”.
This year, a new poster was put up comparing the Russian President to Hitler. It reads “PUTLER. WAR CRIMINAL”.
Hitler has long been used as the main symbol of evil in the messages spread for years by the Soviet government and, later, by the Putin government, which has continued in the same vein.
As reported, the Russians have set up large screens and a stage on their Narva riverside to mark the 9th of May.
This poster is also a response to a ‘propaganda concert’ organised in Ivangorod, across the river. Since 2023, large screens have been set up against Estonia to broadcast propaganda concerts and similar content to the city’s mainly Russian-speaking population.
Reportedly, Russians have installed giant screens and a stage at the Russian bank of River Narva as Russia prepares to celebrate May 9. The screens are facing Estonia.
That’s all Russia can offer the world – boasting about past victories and threats of future aggression. https://t.co/mgPsdtVDkm pic.twitter.com/ghNzUFirrp
— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) May 5, 2025
Maria Smorzhevskaya-Smirnova, Director of the Narva Museum, said that posters of this kind are put up every year to remind people of the war and crimes committed by Russia.
“Today, on Europe Day, we celebrate peace and freedom. With the end of the World War II, it was peace and freedom, respect for sovereignty and solidarity that became the core values of the European Community. At the same time, Putin’s war has been going on next door for four years. We call a dictator a dictator and war crimes war crimes,” she told ERR.
Smorzhevskaya-Smirnova has reportedly been sentenced in absentia in Russia for “spreading fake news about the Russian army”. Last year, she organised an exhibition on the 1944 Soviet bombing of Narva, which destroyed most of the city. She called the move “a great honour”.