“Cinema is the most important art”, said Bolshevik Lenin, praising the Soviet school of cinema (according to Russian propaganda). Volodymyr Putin also vowed to keep an eye on Russian cinema when he recently commissioned films about the war against Ukraine to be shown in Russian cinemas. More precisely, the films are called upon to “fight against the spread of neo-Nazi and neo-fascist ideology”. The order from Putin states that the Ministry of Defense will assist Russian documentary filmmakers in preparing cinematographic material about the participants in the so-called “special operation” (in reality, a full-scale war), who “showed courage, bravery and heroism”. However, are courage, bravery and heroism inherent in the Russian occupiers? Russian propaganda is trying to build a favorable image of “military heroes” by using cinematography.

“Bandera”, “supporters of the Nazis”, “goofs in bloomers” - such a Ukrainian is in Russian cinema, created by order of Moscow. Russian films methodically use stereotypes to speculate about Ukrainians and other non-Russian peoples. Thus, Russian propaganda distorts reality and imposes stereotypes on viewers who begin to believe in an alternative reality. In addition to demonizing Ukrainians, Moscow often resorts to “toxic nostalgia” and revolves around its stereotypes of a “good Soviet Union” and a “victorious Great Patriotic War” to nourish the narrative about the existence of a “one people”, mentally uniting Russians with Ukrainians.

In 2014, with the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian war, a film called “Russian Character” was released. The film was released on December 28, 2014, that is, less than a year after the occupation of Crimea. This is a story about how in 2013 a Russian naval officer comes on vacation to his grandfather in the Crimea and learns that he was killed by “Bandera”. Also, messages are constantly being promoted about “Crimea is ours”, “oppression of Russian-speaking people”, “the vile nature of Ukrainians who spoke Russian all their lives, and suddenly remembered that they are Ukrainians”, etc.

And Lenin's phrase about cinema, as they say, sounds like this in full: “While the people are illiterate, of all the arts, cinema and the circus are the most important for us”. The Russian authorities operate on the same principle.