- Arnold quits as coach of Australia men's football team
- Harris and Oprah hold star-studded US election rally
- Allies to remember failed WWII parachute operation
- Perez leading new-look Villarreal charge against leaders Barca
- Man City face Arsenal in Premier League title showdown, Postecoglou under pressure
- Fake celebrity endorsements, snubs plague US presidential race
- Documentary brings Argentine 'death flights' to the big screen
- Strike shows challenge to Boeing 'reset' of labor relations
- World leaders to gather at UN as crises grow and conflicts rage
- How plastic pollution poses challenge for Canada marine conservation
- Scientists track plastic waste in pristine Canada marine park
- South Africa's Buhai grabs LPGA Queen City lead
- Japan inflation firms to 2.8% ahead of BoJ rate decision
- Russia's Kadyrov accuses Musk of 'remotely disabling' his Cybertruck
- Titan sub had to abort a dive days before fatal implosion: testimony
- Ohtani makes MLB history with first 50-homer, 50-steal season
- Ohtani eyes MLB history after surpassing 50 stolen bases, 49 homers
- Ohtani eyes MLB history after surpassing 50 stolen bases
- Barca downed by Monaco as Arsenal held in Champions League stalemate
- Head's 'good night at office' after century seals win over England
- Dubois seeks legitimacy with Joshua scalp
- Rate cut could lift consumer spirits before US elections
- Last-gasp Gimenez strike sends Atletico past Leipzig
- Barca stumble at Monaco after early red card
- Raya heroics save Arsenal in Champions League opener at Atalanta
- Cathay Airbus engine fire linked to cleaning: EU regulator
- Guardians beat Twins to secure MLB playoff berth
- Jihadist attack in Mali capital killed more than 70: security sources
- Alonso hails 'efficient' Leverkusen after Feyenoord rout
- Head's hundred seals Australia win over England in 1st ODI
- Ex-Man United striker Anthony Martial joins AEK Athens
- NFL unbeatens meet as Texans visit Vikings, Steelers host Chargers
- Head's hundred seals Australia win over England in 1st ODI after Labuschagne strikes
- Dream debut for Wirtz as Leverkusen thump dire Feyenoord
- Myanmar flood death toll climbs to 293: state media
- Israel army says West Bank air strike kills 4 militants
- LIV golfers get green light for US Ryder Cup team, PGA Championship
- US accuses social media giants of 'vast surveillance'
- Ten Hag to bed Hojlund, Mount in carefully when they return for Man Utd
- Breaking bad as McIlroy endures 'weird' day
- EU chief announces $11 bn for nations hit by 'heartbreaking' floods
- Spanish PM, Palestinian leader urge Mideast de-escalation
- New study reinforces theory Covid emerged at Chinese market
- World Bank boosts climate financing by 10 percent
- Bagnaia eyeing summit on home ground in 100th MotoGP
- 'Something was wrong', defendant in French mass rape tells court
- Hezbollah chief admits 'unprecedented' blow in device blasts
- Sales of US existing homes slip slightly in August
- Fear, panic haunt Lebanese after devices explode
- Labuschagne sparks Australia fightback in England ODI opener
'Painted over': Russian village artist finds peace art unwelcome
Retired engineer Vladimir Ovchinnikov has spent decades painting murals in his small town south of Moscow but finds some of his art is not welcome after Russia's conflict with Ukraine.
"They've painted over it," Ovchinnikov, 84, said during a recent stop at an abandoned shop in a village field near Borovsk, his town of about 10,000 people two hours' drive from the Russian capital.
Ovchinnikov had painted a blue-and-yellow Ukrainian flag on one side of the building, but it had been covered over in white paint.
Moving briskly, he pulled out a black pencil and began to draw a dove over the whitewash, until another local man approached and threatened to call the police.
But Ovchinnikov insisted he had no fears about continuing his efforts.
"At my age, I'm not afraid of anything," he said in an interview at his home. "If there are any complaints against me, no one will suffer."
Since Russia sent troops into Ukraine on February 24, authorities have moved against any signs of opposition to what Moscow calls a "special military operation" in the pro-Western country.
Thousands of protesters have been detained, independent media have been shut down and several people have been convicted and fined under a law that makes it a crime to "discredit" the Russian armed forces.
- 'Friendship destroyed' -
Ovchinnikov is one of them.
The silver-haired and bearded pensioner was fined 35,000 rubles (about $430, 400 euros) after he a drew a little girl wearing the colours of the Ukrainian flag with three bombs hanging over her head on a building in Borovsk.
It too was whitewashed and Ovchinnikov painted a dove in its place.
He received more than 150 donations to help pay the fine.
Ovchinnikov is well known for his art in and around Borovsk, and one of his drawings dedicated to the town's liberation from Nazi troops in 1942 adorns the walls of the town's conscription office.
One of his recent murals -- of two women holding hands with ribbons matching the colours of the Russian and Ukrainian flags in their hair -- has so far been left untouched.
"This friendship has been destroyed, we can only be nostalgic," Ovchinnikov said, adding that the drawing was a copy of a Soviet-era poster.
His art has long had a political edge. In 2003, Ovchinnikov came across a book with the names of victims of Soviet repression in the Kaluga region -- where Borovsk is located -- listing who were either shot or sent to the Gulag.
"It made my hair stand on end," he said.
He launched campaigns to have many of the victims rehabilitated -- a legal process where they are posthumously acquitted of any crimes -- but faced numerous rejections.
- Father sent to camps -
In 2015 and 2016, Ovchinnikov painted the portraits of victims of repression on the walls of Borovsk, each time seeing the drawings removed or vandalised.
Their stories hit close to home -- his father Alexander was sentenced in 1937 to 10 years in a labour camp for promoting "monarchist and Trotskyist" views.
He served time in the notorious Kolyma camps in Russia's Far East before resettling in Borovsk in 1956.
Ovchinnikov worries that Russian society is being torn apart by a new "schism" and fears the country could head "in a very bad direction".
He said he would continue his work, believing in the power of art to promote peace.
"It says it right to your face. Bombs are falling on a child. Everything is clear," Ovchinnikov said.
"I draw to show how I understand things... and maybe to have an influence on others," he said. "It's for those who aren't interested in politics... who know nothing and just sit in front of the television."
E.Schubert--BTB