In the late 1990s the Russian government launched the "Russian Project," a series of public service announcements that aired on television stations all over the country. One of them begins with an image of a young Russian soldier aboard a train on the way to the front in World War I. Political scientist Theresa Sabonis-Chafee goes on to explain:

As his girl watches from the platform, he breathes on the window and draws a heart with their initials. "Don't cry," he shouts from the window. "I love you." In the next scene, the same couple—many years older—is mourning the death of their son, apparently in the Prague invasion. As the wife cries, her husband pulls out an old puppet of their son's and makes it say, "Don't cry, I love you!" The third scene...