During the meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in Alaska on August 15, one detail did not escape the attention of television channels around the world: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s hoodie bore the acronym CCCP (USSR). This reference to Russia’s Soviet past was interpreted as a provocation toward Kyiv, a subconscious reminder of the era when Ukraine was under Moscow’s control. The image was broadcast worldwide.
Read: Revealed: the price of the “USSR” hoodie worn by Lavrov on Alaska trip
The Foreign Minister even gave explanations on television, denying any provocation toward Ukraine. “I think we made it a matter of impressionism. There is nothing wrong with it,” Sergey Lavrov stated. “This is not about imperialism, about trying to revive imperial ambitions, as some in the West claim. What is at stake is that there is a history. And that it must be preserved, even with humor“.
Soviet nostalgia for Sergey Lavrov’s hoodie
Since then, this sweater has become very fashionable in Russia. The small clothing brand SelSovet, based in Chelyabinsk in the Urals, has been flooded with orders: CCCP hoodies have sold out and in online stores they cost 4, 5 or even 10 times their retail price.
Many nationalists in Russia mourn the dissolution of the Soviet Union, which they view as a weakening of Russian power. It is a sentiment that brands like SelSovet exploit. Their workshops now operate 24 hours a day and the company will launch an English version of its website, as it claims to receive orders from abroad as well.
