Russian cinemas will open their doors this winter not to offer movie-goers entertaining distraction from the almost year-long war in Ukraine, but precisely the opposite.
President Vladimir Putin this week ordered the defence ministry to provide access so that filmmakers make documentaries about troops striving to conquer territory in Russia’s neighbour. The culture ministry was instructed to organise cinema screenings.
While the documentaries have been commissioned to depict “the heroism of the participants of the special military operation”, rather than the brutal reality of Russia’s faltering war effort, the decision is a sign of how the Kremlin is adjusting its narrative — notwithstanding its call for a unilateral ceasefire in Ukraine over the orthodox Christmas.