---
title: '''Defending the state! Defending independence!'' State Bureau of Investigation billboard, Kropyvnytskyi'
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dbr-na-zakhysti-derzhavy-billboard-2023/
description: 'Billboard in Kropyvnytskyi on a blue and yellow ground: a smiling girl leans against a masked figure in helmet with a night-vision mount and body armour…'
section: Collection
---

[Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)

[!['Defending the state! Defending independence!' State Bureau of Investigation billboard, Kropyvnytskyi](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/dbr-na-zakhysti-derzhavy-billboard-2023.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/dbr-na-zakhysti-derzhavy-billboard-2023.jpg)

# 'Defending the state! Defending independence!' State Bureau of Investigation billboard, Kropyvnytskyi

Billboard in Kropyvnytskyi on a blue and yellow ground: a smiling girl leans against a masked figure in helmet with a night-vision mount and body armour, beside the logo of the State Bureau of Investigation and the words 'Defending the state! Defending independence!' The tells are the transfer of soldier-protector imagery to a civilian investigative body, and virtue terms ('state', 'independence') stated without a claim to test.

## Text on the object

Original (Ukrainian) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
ДЕРЖАВНЕ БЮРО
РОЗСЛІДУВАНЬ

НА ЗАХИСТІ ДЕРЖАВИ!
НА ЗАХИСТІ НЕЗАЛЕЖНОСТІ!

[small QR code, lower left]
```

English translation (machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader)

```
STATE BUREAU
OF INVESTIGATION

IN DEFENCE OF THE STATE!
IN DEFENCE OF INDEPENDENCE!

[small QR code, lower left]
```

The QR code is not decoded. The photograph shows the billboard from a distance and at an angle; the slogan lines are legible at full size.

[← AI-generated image of Donald Trump being arrested](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/trump-arrest-ai-images-2023/) ['KRAKEN: Temper your will' recruitment billboard, Kharkiv →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/kraken-zagartuy-volyu-kharkiv-billboard-2023/)

## Using the same techniques

- [Bronze sestertius of Gaius (Caligula), reverse S P Q R P P OB CIVES SERVATOS in an oak wreath](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sestertius-caligula-ob-cives-servatos-0037/) (Roman Empire · 0037 · Testimonial, Transfer)
- [Gold coin of Kanishka: King of Kings legend, king at the altar, deity Oesho](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/gold-dinar-kanishka-king-of-kings-0130/) (Kushan Empire · 0130 · Transfer)
- [Gold solidus of Justinian I, reverse VICTORIA AVGGG with Victory holding a Christogram staff](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/solidus-justinian-i-victoria-avggg-0538/) (Byzantine Empire · 0538 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Bayeux Tapestry, scene 23: UBI HAROLD SACRAMENTVM FECIT VVILLELMO DVCI](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/bayeux-tapestry-harold-oath-to-william-1070/) (Kingdom of England · 1070 · Transfer, Card stacking)
- [Mughal gold coin of Jahangir, dated 1028 AH, with a bull inside a ring of sun rays](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/jahangir-gold-zodiac-coin-sun-rays-1619/) (Mughal Empire · 1619 · Transfer)
- [Frontispiece to Eikon Basilike, The Pourtraicture of His Sacred Majestie in his Solitudes and Sufferings (Hollar, 1649)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/eikon-basilike-frontispiece-hollar-1649/) (Dutch Republic · 1649 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Consult of the doctors on the grave illness of the Grand Sultan (Consult vande medicijnen inde swaere siekte vanden grooten Sultaen)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/consult-of-the-doctors-sick-sultan-antwerp-1683/) (Spanish Netherlands · 1683 · Transfer, Bandwagon)
- [The Highlanders Medley, or The Duke Triumphant (A Loyal Song)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/highlanders-medley-duke-triumphant-1746/) (Great Britain · 1746 · Name-calling, Transfer)