Changes involving Russian political leaders and the war against Ukraine have been identified in the Russian edition of Joe Hill's novel *King Sorrow*, published as *Tsar Skorb*. Literary critic Nikolai Karayev compared passages in the original and the translation and reported discrepancies on October 28–29.
In one passage, Russians become Ukrainians; Mariupol is replaced with Donetsk; and direct references to Vladimir Putin and Russia's invasion are removed or rendered in vaguer terms. A reference to the invasion of Ukraine, for example, becomes a less specific description of a war in Europe.
The Russian-language edition was released under the Fanzon imprint, part of the Eksmo publishing group. After the comparisons circulated, Eksmo chief executive Yevgeny Kapyev promised to investigate. His public response did not identify who authorised the disputed changes.