The “Russian Rambo” went over to the enemy. Russian actor Artur Smolyaninov, muscular hero of movies like the ninth companyabout Russian soldiers trapped in Afghanistan in 1988 – a film that ranks among Vladimir Putin’s favorites – is now persona non grata in Russia.
Since the actor showed his support for Ukraine on January 9, the Russian Ministry of Justice has considered him a “foreign agent”. A Russian parliamentarian even offered to open a criminal investigation and “revoke his passport”, according to Novaya Gazeta.
Considered “a traitor”, the actor is now at risk of prosecution. The head of the Investigative Committee of Russia demanded already on January 9 that criminal proceedings be opened against Smolyaninov.
“A deal”
“No one in the Kremlin thinks anything good of this actor. But in this particular case, it is more important to know what our competent agencies think about these comments,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Another deputy suggested that the actor could no longer act in state films. Also, anything created by “foreign agents” is now considered harmful to the health and development of children and is marked as adult content.
“I only feel hatred towards the people on the other (Russian) side of the front line. And if I were there on the ground, there would be no pity,” Artur Smolyaninov said in a video interview on Novaya Gazeta Europebroadcast on Twitter.
“We are brothers, whether we like it or not,” he said in the same interview, referring to the plight of the Ukrainians. “For me, it’s not even being on the Ukrainian side, it’s the side of my brothers who were attacked by my other brothers for no reason, to kill them.”
“Russian night has reached schools and hospitals”
Very critical of the Russian campaign in Ukraine, the actor also recorded a song from a 1943 Soviet-era movie last December, modifying the lyrics, according to CNN.
“Look, occupant, how the maternity hospitals are without light, how the children are sitting in the shelters. And how the books are drowning. The Russian night has reached schools and hospitals,” he sings in this new version.
indignant the ninth companyArtur Smolyaninov played in 2020 in a biopic of Mikhail Kalashnikov, inventor of the AK-47, but also in science fiction movies (The darker hour), romantic comedies, historical crime series (Za chas do rasveta) and even a number of hospitals (samara).
When The 9th Company was released in 2005, Vladimir Putin enjoyed the film so much, CNN still mentions, that he invited the crew, actors and director to his residence outside Moscow for a private screening. The Russian leader then declared that the film “takes the soul”, and that we were “immersed” in it.
Source: BFM TV
