A Moscow court on Monday sentenced Alexander Rodnyansky, a two-time Oscar nominee for “Leviathan” and “Loveless,” to prison in absentia for 8.5 years, with the producer accusing Russian authorities of trying to “sow more fear” among the film’s critics. Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine.
“Dozens of Russia’s best writers and musicians were sentenced for this purpose before me: to silence anti-war voices,” Rodnyansky said in a joint statement with the Russian Federation. diverse.
The ruling, handed down in Moscow’s Basmanny District Court on Monday afternoon, sentenced Rodnyansky to 8.5 years in prison for his anti-war comments, and banned him from publishing online for four years.
The court found him guilty of spreading military “false information,” as Russian officials describe any statements that contradict the official narrative about the war in Ukraine, and determined that his actions were motivated by “political hatred,” according to Russian news site Mediazona.
In his statement, Rodnyansky insisted that the authorities had brought a “political case” against him, adding that he was “sentenced for speaking out about atrocities committed by the Russian army in Bucha.”
He added: “The Moscow court’s decision aims to instill more fear in the Russian film community and prevent them from publicly criticizing the unfair war in Ukraine or criticizing Vladimir Putin personally.”
Noting that the Kremlin’s campaign against war opponents has targeted “dozens” of Russian artists – and several thousand ordinary civilians – he added: “The difference in my case is simple: I am not Russian, I am Ukrainian.”
The Kiev-born producer, who has spent nearly three decades living and working in Russia, has been an outspoken critic of the war in Ukraine since the Russian invasion in February 2022. After receiving information that his criticism had landed him in the Kremlin’s crosshairs, Rodnyansky decided he had managed to flee the country. In October 2022, the Russian Ministry of Justice declared him a “foreign agent.”
Having begun his prolific media career in Kiev, which has seen him direct documentaries and found Ukraine’s first independent television network, Rodnyansky has become one of Russia’s most influential producers. His collaboration with director Andrei Zvyagintsev led to him being nominated for an Academy Award in the Foreign Language (now International Film) category for “Leviathan” and “Loveless.”
“Just two years ago, before the Russian army invaded my homeland of Ukraine, I was living and working in Moscow,” Rodnyansky said in his statement. “My films have won awards at the Cannes Film Festival. They were nominated twice for an Academy Award for their representation of Russia, and once a film I produced (“Leviathan”) won a Golden Globe. Times have changed dramatically since then, and today I am being judged for speaking out against brutal war on an unabashedly political issue.
He continued: “From the first days of the war, when the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation directed the Minister of Culture to ban all my works in Russia, I knew that my anti-war position would inevitably be punished.” “That never stopped me from publicly supporting Ukraine and protesting the war, and it certainly won’t stop me now.”
Rodnyansky added that he did not “recognize the authority of the Russian court” or the prison sentence, and said that he “will continue to work and tell the truth about the brutality of the Russian invasion both in the media and through my films.”