A Russian court has banned the Oscar-winning documentary “Mr Nobody Against Putin” from streaming platforms, labelling it extremist propaganda.
MOSCOW: A Russian court has banned the Oscar-winning documentary “Mr Nobody Against Putin” from several domestic streaming platforms.
The court in the Chelyabinsk region ruled on Thursday that the film promoted “terrorism” and “negative attitudes toward the current government”.
It also objected to the film’s display of the opposition’s “white-blue-white” flag, a symbol banned in Russia as extremist.
The ban applies to three Russian streaming services, according to the independent Sotavision news outlet.
The film, which won Best Documentary at the Oscars earlier this month, uses two years of secretly filmed footage from a school in Chelyabinsk. It documents pro-war propaganda lessons delivered to students.
Russia’s Kremlin-appointed human rights council had complained last week that “images of minors were used without obtaining the consent of their parents”. This is the first known judicial move to restrict access to the film inside Russia, though bootleg copies remain widely available online.
Since launching its full-scale assault on Ukraine four years ago, the Kremlin has systematically suppressed war opposition. Authorities have amended school curriculums to promote the state’s narrative about the conflict.
The film’s protagonist, school videographer Pavel Talankin, fled Russia in 2024 after smuggling the footage out of the country.
