Mumiy Troll ( ) is a Russian rock group, founded in 1983 in Vladivostok by vocalist and songwriter Ilya Lagutenko (). The band's name translates as "mummy troll" and is a pun on Mumintroll, the children's books series by Tove Jansson. Career Ilya Lagutenko founded Mumiy Troll in Vladivostok on 16 October 1983. In 1985, the group recorded their first album, Novaya luna aprelya, which was distributed as magnitizdat. Mumiy Troll disbanded when Lagutenko was conscripted into the Russian navy. In 1990, they briefly reunited and released their second album, Delay Yu-Yu, on tape. Having studied Chinese and English at the Oriental Studies Institute of the Far Eastern Federal University, Lagutenko worked in China and London from 1991 to 1995. In 1995, he returned to Russia and reformed the band. In May 1997, Mumiy Troll released their first studio album, Morskaya (), which brought them wide popularity. Six months later, they released their second studio album, Ikra (). In 1998, MTV began broadcasting in Russia and Mumiy Troll's music video for the song "Vladivostok 2000" was the first music video by a Russian artist shown on the channel. In 2001, the group represented Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest and came in 12th place. Time Out (London) wrote that they 'stole the show' by standing out as snakeskin heroes amongst all the taffeta and tuxedos. The group wrote and produced soundtracks for a full-length cartoon movie and gave a new sound to classic Russian silent sci-fi movie and donated tracks to feature films including Russian blockbuster Night Watch, where Lagutenko also plays the Vampire. His face is on the cover of the American release. Their 2005 album Sliyaniye i pogloshcheniye () was called back from the printers on the day of release when distributors realized that the bride and groom on the cover were wearing masks of Putin and Mikhail Khodorkovsky. The band changed them into symbols of hearts and United States dollars respectively. In 2008, the band signed with the Agency Group. In 2009, they released the album Comrade Ambassador, their first album to be made commercially available in North America, and toured North America to promote it. In 2012, Mumiy Troll released their first English-language album, Vladivostok. In 2013, they released the album SOS matrosu (), written during the band's round-the-world trip on a 19-century sailing ship in locations. In 2015, they released album Piratskie kopii () and