Ukraine adds Russians at War filmmaker to national security threat list
The Ukrainian government added filmmaker Anastasia Trofimova to its security watch list, rejecting her documentary's framing of the war as a conflict between “brotherly nations," which potentially fuels Russian propaganda.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications added Russian-Canadian filmmaker Anastasia Trofimova to its list of individuals deemed a threat to national security.
Trofimova, a former employee of the Russian state-run channel Russia Today (RT), was included in the list for creating a documentary, Russians at War, about Russian soldiers in Ukraine. The film was screened at the Venice Film Festival and will be shown at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) on 17 September, sparking pro-Ukrainian protests in Canada against what they call Russian propaganda.
The Ministry of Culture stated that Trofimova’s film presents the war as a “conflict between two brotherly nations” and suggests that Russians, like Ukrainians, are victims of the war.
This portrayal, the ministry argues, distorts the reality of the situation, downplays the scale of Russia’s aggression, and ignores the atrocities committed during the invasion.
Ukraine’s Minister of Culture and Strategic Communications, Mykola Tochytskyi, emphasized the need to combat any use of art as a vehicle for Russian propaganda.
Trofimova is now the 233rd person to be added to Ukraine’s national security threat list, publicly accessible on the Ministry of Culture’s website.
According to critics, the film spreads Russian propaganda by failing to adequately address Russia’s responsibility for wartime atrocities and by presenting an overly neutral stance on the war, portraying Russian soldiers in a sympathetic light.
At first, the film was removed from the TIFF program due to security concerns following protests from the Ukrainian Canadian Congress and government officials from both Ukraine and abroad.
However, later, TIFF decided to proceed with the screening of Russians at War despite protests from those who claimed the film was Russian propaganda.
Ukrainian organizations continue to demand its cancellation, and some question the use of Canadian taxpayer money in funding the film.
Related:
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- Ukrainian Canadian Congress calls for investigation into budget funding of “Russians at War” film
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