The Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed outrage over the decision of the Zurich Film Festival to showcase the film Russians at War by Russian director Anastasia Trofimova.
"Russian propaganda disguised as a cultural product has no place on the international cultural stage and red carpets. In connection with the plans of the Zurich Film Festival to include the documentary film 'Russians at War' in its program, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has expressed outrage over this decision," the ministry stated in a Facebook post.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine condemns any attempts to give Russia a "cultural stage for whitewashing its war crimes while Russian troops continue to commit atrocities against Ukrainians."
The film by Russian director Anastasia Trofimova, which focuses on participants in the Russian aggression against Ukraine, was also presented at the Venice Film Festival on September 6. This has sparked outrage among Ukrainians and social media users from other countries who support Ukraine.
The Ukrainian Canadian Congress pointed out that the film had support from the state-private Canadian Media Fund, with funding amounting to 340 thousand dollars according to the Congress.
Anastasia Trofimova worked for the Russian state media network RT, which is under Western sanctions. In her comments about the film, she claimed that she "did not see" any war crimes committed by Russian troops during her time in the conflict zone.
Canadian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland supported the criticism from Kyiv and the Ukrainian-Canadian community regarding the film and noted that Canadian government funds should not be used to support "media that seeks to whitewash Russian war crimes."
