May 01, 2022

Sergei Elkin: Russia Through Caricatures


Sergei Elkin: Russia Through Caricatures
Drawing in the modern age. YouTube, The Moscow Times

Sergei Elkin is one of Russia’s best-known, most lauded political cartoonists. Over the course of his career, he has drawn hundreds of political cartoons satirizing Russian politicians, socialites, and businessmen. He has also been featured in many blogs and newspapers, most notably The Moscow Times.

Most of Elkin’s drawings are based on his own political opinions. However, he will also "word to order" for fans who want to see their own ideas in his creation.

One of Elkin's main targets is Russian President Vladimir Putin. He even created a specific series for his Vladimir Putin cartoons, “Putin’s Russia," begun on the heels of the 1998 financial crisis. Satirizing Putin quickly became a specialty.

His caricatures are remarkable given that many media outlets and artists don't dare to publish negative opinions of the president. Elkin said he enjoys drawing Putin because he has a distinct appearance and often displays no emotion.

A picture of a cartoon drawn by Elkin featuring Vladimir Putin interrogating a globe under a light, with the Russian words "Признавайся что ты задумал против меня", translating to "confess with you have in mind against me".
"Spill it: what are you plotting against me?" Instagram @ elkin_cartoon

Elkin did not begin as a political cartoonist. In the 1990s, he worked as an editor for a newspaper in Voronezh. When the paper wanted something more than words to fill a void in their content, Elkin took a shot at drawing. It helped he had attended art school.

He soon realized that drawing was his true passion, and then set foot into the realm of political cartoons. His greatest influences were Viktor Bogorad (who for years  illustrated Russian Life's "Survival Russian" column) and Mikhail Zlatkovsky.

A political cartoon featuring Vladimir Putin holding the hands of a ruble, while putting all of his focus on Bitcoin.
Is Bitcoin a woman? Instagram @ elkin_cartoon

Today, Elkin draws on a digital sketchpad, which allows him to work much faster and create far more, faster. Apparently he can draw up to seven cartoons per day on a computer, versus at most three per day the old analog way.

The 2022 invasion of Ukraine didn't put a stop to Elkin's work. He has even released works that satirize Putin’s role in the conflict. A few can be seen here

A political cartoon featuring Vladimir Putin skating in an ice rink, though his ice skates are military tanks
Skating on thinner ice than we thought. Instagram @ elkin_cartoon

However, new censorship rules threatens the work of artists, journalists, and the media. Anyone “spreading misinformation” faces a threat of up to 15 years in prison. While Elkin said he does not fear publicizing his works (and many outlets have refused to publish them), circumstances today are different. Two weeks ago the artist fled Russia for Bulgaria.

Much of his most recent work can be seen on his Instagram account.

You Might Also Like

Signed, a Foreign Agent
  • April 25, 2022

Signed, a Foreign Agent

Artist Daria Apakhonchich illustrated her quarterly report to the Ministry of Justice with her thoughts about the war in Ukraine. 
Spot the Difference
  • April 22, 2022

Spot the Difference

Zoya Cherkassky-Nnadi is creating pieces of art comparing the Ukraine she knew in childhood and the war-riddled Ukraine we see today.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of our Books

Marooned in Moscow
May 01, 2011

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.

Fish
February 01, 2010

Fish

This mesmerizing novel from one of Russia’s most important modern authors traces the life journey of a selfless Russian everywoman. In the wake of the Soviet breakup, inexorable forces drag Vera across the breadth of the Russian empire. Facing a relentless onslaught of human and social trials, she swims against the current of life, countering adversity and pain with compassion and hope, in many ways personifying Mother Russia’s torment and resilience amid the Soviet disintegration.

How Russia Got That Way
September 20, 2025

How Russia Got That Way

A fast-paced crash course in Russian history, from Norsemen to Navalny, that explores the ways the Kremlin uses history to achieve its ends.

Woe From Wit (bilingual)
June 20, 2017

Woe From Wit (bilingual)

One of the most famous works of Russian literature, the four-act comedy in verse Woe from Wit skewers staid, nineteenth century Russian society, and it positively teems with “winged phrases” that are essential colloquialisms for students of Russian and Russian culture.

The Moscow Eccentric
December 01, 2016

The Moscow Eccentric

Advance reviewers are calling this new translation "a coup" and "a remarkable achievement." This rediscovered gem of a novel by one of Russia's finest writers explores some of the thorniest issues of the early twentieth century.

The Latchkey Murders
July 01, 2015

The Latchkey Murders

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin is back on the case in this prequel to the popular mystery Murder at the Dacha, in which a serial killer is on the loose in Khrushchev’s Moscow...

The Samovar Murders
November 01, 2019

The Samovar Murders

The murder of a poet is always more than a murder. When a famous writer is brutally stabbed on the campus of Moscow’s Lumumba University, the son of a recently deposed African president confesses, and the case assumes political implications that no one wants any part of.

Moscow and Muscovites
November 26, 2013

Moscow and Muscovites

Vladimir Gilyarovsky's classic portrait of the Russian capital is one of Russians’ most beloved books. Yet it has never before been translated into English. Until now! It is a spectactular verbal pastiche: conversation, from gutter gibberish to the drawing room; oratory, from illiterates to aristocrats; prose, from boilerplate to Tolstoy; poetry, from earthy humor to Pushkin. 

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955