August 24, 2026

A Whisker Away from Victory


A Whisker Away from Victory
Moscow's fluffiest four-legged propagandists are the highlight of a war-themed program. Moskva Doverie. 

A Moscow summer festival hosted a bizarre program that combined cats, magic, and pro-war propaganda.

Families gathered at the outdoor Teatralny Boulevard stage to witness a very special performance of “Together We Will Win,” possibly the Kuklachev Cat Theater’s strangest performance yet. The special wartime show was originally created for Russian soldiers and presented on the front lines to boost morale. Its showing at the Teatralny Boulevard Festival marked the first time that the general public has seen it.

Spectators saw not just cats and a magic show, but also sat through lectures about Russia’s War on Ukraine. The cat theater also screened a documentary about its animal welfare work in the war zone: The Kuklachev Cat Theater said it has proudly "liberated" cats from Ukraine, taking in rescues brought by soldiers and volunteers. Some cats are eventually adopted out, while others are trained to join the cat circus.

Although the Theater claims to support animal welfare via its rescue programs, it has an alarming history of animal abuse. Whistleblowers were legally prosecuted for revealing the harmful training practices because of the damage to the theater’s reputation. The longstanding institution was founded by People’s Artist of the RSFSR Yuri Kuklachev and is now run by his son, Dmitry Kuklachev, a People’s Artist of Russia.

It is all just the latest wrinkle in Russia's metastasizing "patriotic education" programs.

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