Russian pop star Yegor Kreed apologizes after wearing a shirt featuring an altered poster from ‘Come and See,’ a Soviet film about Nazi atrocities
Singer Yegor Kreed faced fierce criticism from “patriotic” commentators after appearing in his new music video, “Mily ublyudok” (“Sweet Bastard”), wearing a long-sleeved T-shirt with a design inspired by the Soviet film “Come and See” (“Idi i smotri”).
“Come and See,” directed by Elem Klimov, was released in 1985 to mark the 40th anniversary of the Soviet victory in World War II.
The film follows a boy who goes from a cheerful teenager to a gray-haired old man after witnessing the Nazis burn the residents of a Belarusian village alive during a punitive operation.
Readers of Sovetsky Ekran magazine voted it the best film of 1986. Many viewers still consider “Come and See” one of the hardest-to-watch films about World War II.
Moscow concept store KM20 produced the shirt in collaboration with the American brand Marking Distance. Its design is based on the official poster for “Come and See,” which features a large illustration of the main character’s face. On the shirt, tattoos have been added to the face, assault rifles appear on the sleeves, and machine-gun ammunition belts appear on the back. KM20’s website listed the shirt for 38,600 rubles.
KM20; Kinopoisk
After social media users noticed the shirt, pro-government commentators began denouncing Kreed, accusing him of disrespecting the memory of the victims of World War II. Activists in Yekaterinburg filed complaints with the Prosecutor General’s Office and the Investigative Committee, demanding that Kreed be prosecuted under the law against insulting the memory of victims of the genocide of the Soviet people.
Among Kreed’s critics was Yekaterina Mizulina, head of the Safe Internet League, who reports various “offenders” to the authorities. She said the shirt was no accident but part of an “effort to wipe humanity’s historical memory clean.” “Western leaders want to erase from the minds of people around the world the memory of how their grandfathers burned people in gas chambers and shot Jews, Slavs and people of other nationalities by the thousands,” she said. Mizulina, who is married to pop singer Shaman, has clashed publicly with Kreed before: She criticized as “indecent” a routine performed by a dancer in lingerie at his concert at Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium in summer 2025.
COME AND SEE Trailer
Film Forum
Kreed apologized for wearing the shirt. He said he had never seen or heard of the film and therefore did not know the image was based on the poster for “Come and See.” To him, Kreed said, it was “just a designer item sitting on a shelf, available for anyone to buy.”
I want to say something important: The memory of the Great Patriotic War and the tragedy people endured is sacred to me. This is our shared history, and I will always treat it with respect.
The musician also stressed that he had intended “no political or historical message” with the outfit.
The image was eventually blurred in Kreed’s official music video. KM20 pulled the shirt from its online store and deleted a post about Kreed’s video from its social media accounts. The brand’s owners have not commented publicly on the controversy. The Mosfilm studio said it had not granted KM20 permission to use the “Come and See” poster and is consulting lawyers. The studio said the “distortion” of the poster was “unacceptable.”
At Meduza, we are committed to transparency about our use of artificial intelligence in the newsroom. The story you’re reading was written by one of our living, breathing journalists and translated from Russian using an AI model configured to follow our strict editorial standards. This translation process is the result of extensive testing and refinements to ensure our English-language coverage is timely and accurate. A Meduza editor reviews every draft before publication.
If you find any errors in this translation, please contact us at reports@meduza.io.
To read Meduza’s exclusive content in English, please subscribe to our newsletter.