Al Mayadeen English

  • Ar
  • Es
  • x
Al Mayadeen English

Slogan

  • News
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Sports
    • Arts&Culture
    • Health
    • Miscellaneous
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Articles
    • Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Blog
    • Features
  • Videos
    • NewsFeed
    • Video Features
    • Explainers
    • TV
    • Digital Series
  • Infographs
  • In Pictures
  • • LIVE
News
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Sports
  • Arts&Culture
  • Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Technology
  • Environment
Articles
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Blog
  • Features
Videos
  • NewsFeed
  • Video Features
  • Explainers
  • TV
  • Digital Series
Infographs
In Pictures
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Asia-Pacific
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • MENA
  • Palestine
  • US & Canada
BREAKING
Tebboune: Achieving economic integration must not remain a dream.
Algerian Foreign Minister Ahmed Attaf delivers a speech on behalf of Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune at the Fifth Arab Development, Economic, and Social Summit in Baghdad.
Mustafa: We reaffirm our commitment to work with our brothers and friends around the world for stability and an end to wars.
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa: We stress the importance of reaching an agreement to implement the initiatives of the Development, Economic, and Social Summit.
Aboul Gheit: The global economy is going through a period of turbulence.
Aboul Gheit: Concrete solutions must be found for the issue of Arab food security in line with the strategy proposed at the Arab Summit in Baghdad.
Aboul Gheit: Arab national security is an integrated whole that cannot be achieved without food, social, cyber, and other forms of security.
Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit: We present a comprehensive Arab strategy for food security at the Arab Development Summit.
The closing statement of the Arab Summit: We reaffirm our absolute rejection of the displacement of the Palestinian people and call for the delivery of aid to the Gaza Strip.
The closing statement of the Arab Summit: The goal of the Arab Summit is to unify our efforts and achieve the interests of the peoples of our region.

Mural of Russian-Ukrainian embrace removed due to "offensive" view

  • By Al Mayadeen English
  • Source: Agencies
  • 5 Sep 2022 16:03
  • 2 Shares
3 Min Read

Australian street artist CTO takes down his own mural following a Russophobic outcry by the Ukrainian ambassador.

  • x
  • The original mural (www.ctoart.com)
    The original mural (www.ctoart.com)

Artist Peter Seaton, who goes by the nickname CTO, covered his work called ‘Peace before Pieces’ that showed a Russian and a Ukrainian soldier hugging each other, in Melbourne mere days after finishing it last week due to an immense pressure campaign by pro-Ukraine activists, who accused him of ignorance.

The Ukrainian Ambassador to Australia, Vasily Miroshnichenko, was one of the public figures who snapped at CTO on social media on Saturday for failing to consult “the Ukrainian community in Melbourne” about the illustration, calling for the mural’s removal. 

Miroshnichenko shared some altered versions of the mural on social media, with one made by an Australia-based anti-Beijing cartoonist from Hong Kong, showing the Russian soldier stabbing the Ukrainian counterpart in the back. Another portrayed the soldiers as a Nazi and a Jewish person marked for extermination.

Related News

Kazakhstan summoned Ukrainian Ambassador over remarks on Russians

This led CTO to apologize to people offended by his mural but he rejected the ambassador’s claim that the painting's message relayed false equivalence, saying that he believed all humans were united on a fundamental level and was hopeful that they could overcome the differences that made them commit acts of violence against one another. 

Read more: Russia on Zaporozhye NPP: Western media must end Russophobia

CTO justified that his work “doesn’t say you have to love the Russians. No. It’s just that love is fundamental within us, and anything that takes us away from love is not acting in our best interests in the long run. I really stand by that.”

Miroshnichenko remarked that CTO had been “swift” to take down the work from the city of Melbourne. This comes after a wave of Russophobia hit Russian citizens around the globe following the war in Ukraine, whereby EU countries like the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Poland, and the Netherlands have taken steps to impede visa issuances to Russians, in addition to Russian diplomats and ambassadors being removed from their duty stations such as Slovakia and Belgium. 

The enormous series of packages by the West for sanctioning Russia are significant factors in both contributing to and promoting Russian hate crimes and discrimination. Sanctions even included acts against Russian cats. Brazilian novelist Paulo Coelho pointed out earlier this year that the crisis in Ukraine was being used as a pretext for peddling anti-Russia sentiment, tweeting: "Ukraine crisis a convenient excuse for Russophobia". 

  • Ukrainian Ambassador
  • Russia
  • Kiev
  • Australia
  • Ukraine
  • paintings

Most Read

Two F-35 jets arrive at it's new operational base Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2015, at Hill Air Force Base, in northern Utah. (AP)

F-35 near-misses over Yemen signal new risks for 'Israel': Forbes

  • Politics
  • 14 May 2025
Palestinians pray over bodies of people killed in the Israeli bombardment who were brought from the Shifa hospital before burying them in a mass grave in the town of Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2023. (AP )

Gaza casualty figures mask a much bigger horror, new study shows

  • Politics
  • 11 May 2025
Gaza and the logic of necropolitics: Sovereignty measured by killing

Gaza and the logic of necropolitics: Sovereignty measured by killing

  • Politics
  • 15 May 2025
Abu Obaida

Abu Obeida posts shortly after Israeli reports about his assassination

  • Palestine
  • 15 May 2025

Coverage

All
Gaza prevails against genocide

Read Next

All
A Microsoft sign and logo are pictured at the company's headquarters, Friday, April 4, 2025, in Redmond, Wash. (AP)
Technology

Microsoft admits supplying AI to 'Israel' amid Gaza carnage

Israeli occupation’s tanks parked in a staging area near the border with Gaza, Friday, May 16, 2025. (AP)
Politics

'Israel' launches multi-axis assault in Gaza under 'Gideon’s Chariots'

People stand at the train ticket counter of NJ Transit at Penn Station, amid a strike by New Jersey Transit train engineers, in New York, Friday, May 16, 2025. (AP)
Economy

Commuters stranded amid first New Jersey railway strike in 40 years

Trump's tax bill stalls as Republican opposition demands deeper cuts
US & Canada

Trump's tax bill stalls as Republican opposition demands deeper cuts

Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

  • x
  • Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Android
iOS