February 23rd is a federal day off in Russia, which celebrates the Russian Army, Navy and Air Force. The city of Moscow made preparations at the very last moment, just like how everything else is done in Russia, and hired the design firm Moscow City Advertisement to do the posters. The huge billboards are very popular in Moscow along the highways and streets, and citizens usually read them. They aren't necessarily for advertisements only, sometimes the city delivers news to the citizens, or some social projects are announced through these billboards.
The billboard that you can see in the picture below, reads "Congratulations to the Warriors of Russia!" - so far so good. However, people who understand any military history were very upset and the posters had to be taken down overnight by emergency crews and replaced with the new generic ones. The reasons for their disappointment are quite comic. The ship in the poster glorifying the Russian fleet is the American battle ship USS Missouri. On September 2, 1945, the Japanese signed their capitulation on that ship and she has been parked in Pearl Harbor since then.
The jet fighter glorifying Russian military aviation was actually made in Russia, but this model is not used by the Russian forces, these are export versions sold to India (SU-30MK). And this particular jet crashed in 1999 during a military air show at Le Bourget, France.
Many Russians took the posters as an insult, and even though they were up for only one day before the holiday, it was enough to upset several people. Surely there were no malicious intentions on anyone's part, just a lazy job, an ignorant designer and poor supervision. Enjoy the posters:
WOW!! I have walked on that "Russian" Ship!!
In fact, it was docked in the community beside where I live.
And I thought that the Russians never signed a treaty with Japan, ending World War 2.
Then how did a treaty get signed on THAT ship?? By whom??
Absolutely "hilarious" (to an informed outsider),
and embarassing PR campaign by the Armed Forces Day organizers.
One might think that the US "won" the Cold War, and now we all share our military equipment in a unified Armed Forces.
I wonder how those poor conscripted and brutalized young men in the Russian Army feel. The army they give their very lives for doesn't even know its own weaponry.