The director of Mr Nobody against Putin described as a “foreign agent” by the Russian authorities

The Russian Ministry of Justice announced Friday March 27 that Pavel Talankin, director of the Oscar-winning documentary Mr Nobody against Putin had been added to the register of “foreign agents”a label used by the Kremlin to suppress its critics.

This educational animator fled Russia in 2024, taking the images filmed in his small school in the Urals, before making a documentary on the militaristic recruitment of students in the Russian school system. The judge, according to the independent media SotaVision, also considered that the documentary included “signs of propaganda conveying a negative attitude towards the government” and Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to an audio recording of his judgment broadcast by SotaVision.

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Censored on three Russian video platforms

On March 18, a Russian human rights committee had already accused the documentary of using images of minors without the consent of their parents. Questioned by the media about this documentary, the Kremlin kicked the question several times. The film did not appear in the table summarizing the Oscars published by the Russian state press agency Ria Novosti.

Furthermore, on Thursday March 26, a Russian court banned the documentary from being broadcast on three streaming platforms. Mr. Nobody vs. Putin . In the Chelyabinsk region, at the foot of the Urals, where this documentary was filmed, judge Ksenia Boukharinova granted the prosecutor’s request for a ban on broadcasting the film on three video hosting services, including VK-video, widely used in Russia, several Russian media reported.