Anger in Ukraine after screening of film “Russians at War”, denounced as “Russian propaganda”

Anastasia Trofimova presented “Russians at War” out of competition at the Mostra after spending several months in a Russian battalion on the Ukrainian front, gleaning the testimonies of soldiers from which she drew this film of more than two hours.

Ukrainian political and cultural figures expressed anger on Friday after a documentary by a Russian-Canadian director giving voice to Russian soldiers was presented at the Venice Film Festival, which was denounced as “smear” “Russian propaganda”which the latter denies.

In a message published on social networks, the head of the Ukrainian presidential administration Andrii Yermak judged “shameful” the projection of what is, according to him, a “propaganda film”. He considered that the “personalities of Russian culture” were not allowed to “working in the civilized world.”

This is a “anti-war documentary, and (…) it took great risks to make it”reacted Anastasia Trofimova in a statement sent to AFP. “The suggestion that this is Russian-orchestrated propaganda is absurd, given that I am facing criminal prosecution in Russia.”

Daria Zarivna, a Ukrainian activist and advisor to Andriy Yermak, said the film was intended to “justify” the actions of the Russian army and accused Anastasia Trofimova of “to silence war crimes” which are attributed to Moscow’s forces in Ukraine.

“I unambiguously condemn the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian army and recognize the legitimacy of the investigations launched by the International Criminal Court into the crimes committed in Ukraine”replied the director. “I also understand the pain and anger that this topic can trigger in those who have to suffer from war.”

In an interview with AFP, she said she had gone “alone” on the forehead and have “just asked the soldiers if she could film their stories.”

According to an AFP journalist who saw the film, those seen on screen seem to have lost the meaning of their participation in this conflict. Lacking equipment, they tinker with their own weapons, using equipment dating from the Soviet era. Chaining cigarettes and glasses of alcohol, they try to drown their dismay in the face of the injuries or deaths of their comrades.

Ukrainian producer Daria Bassel, who says she saw the film in Venice, saw it as a “perfect example of pure Russian propaganda” in which the soldiers take up the Kremlin’s argument to justify the invasion.

Ukrainian filmmaker Iryna Tsilyk criticized the organizers of the Mostra for presenting “something that smells so bad.”

According to her website, Anastasia Trofimova has previously made several documentaries in Syria, Iraq and Congo, notably broadcast by the Russian state channel RT, which is sanctioned in the European Union and the United States.