Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday ordered his government to organize a screening of documentaries about Moscow’s forces’ offensive in Ukraine by February.
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“To the Ministry of Culture to submit proposals to ensure the screening of national documentaries in cinema networks on topics related to the military special operation, the fight against the spread of neo-Nazi ideology and neo-fascism,” we could read in a message posted on the Kremlin’s website.
Russia justified its attack in Ukraine in particular by wanting to “discredit” the country, and the Kremlin accused the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, and the authorities in Kyiv of collusion with extremist nationalist circles.
Moscow also presents its attack as a proxy conflict that it opposes on behalf of the West, due to the delivery of weapons to Kyiv.
This decision comes after several setbacks suffered by the Russian army in Ukraine, as it was forced in recent months to abandon the Kharkiv region in the northeast and the city of Kherson in the south.
On Monday, the Russian army had to realize the fatal blow that its forces suffered in the town of Makevka in eastern Ukraine, which left no less than 63 dead.
Russia has already passed several laws to control discourse around its “special military operation,” the name it gives to the conflict.
In particular, the law severely punishes anyone who publishes what justice considers “lies” about the armed forces.
