In the lead-up to 9 May, buildings and shop fronts around Moscow are decorated with evocative Soviet-style posters commemorating the victory of the Soviet Red Army against fascism and Nazism. While Putin’s speeches often bash Lenin and blame the Bolsheviks for Russia’s contemporary geopolitical issues, it is clear that his government is compelled to selectively appropriate red symbols to retain legitimacy.

When I asked one communist why this was the case, she responded bluntly, ‘because the oligarchs have failed to build a single thing beyond the Soviets’. Their ultimate aim is quite different from that of the Soviets – private profit at the expense of the working people.

Hard to argue you're building a better Russia when all the metros are the same ones built by the Soviets. What a fascinating tight rope Russia's ruling class has to walk.