It all began with a little black and orange military ribbon, revived as a symbol of remembrance and pride in the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany. Jaunty stickers on the backs of cars said: “Thanks, Granddad, for the Victory” and “To Berlin!”
This year there have been more belligerent expressions of Russian patriotism. Some drivers have favoured a new sticker for their cars — a cartoon of a Red Army soldier sodomising a Nazi one, with the caption: “We could do it again.”
Pro-Putin and anti-western T-shirts are all the rage. “Obama-chmo” [Obama’s a schmuck], and “Bardak Obmana” [whorehouse cheat] and “Better a third world war than a second perestroika” are just some examples of the rather crude, politically incorrect slogans on apparel.
This attitude