A Moscow court has sentenced Oscar-nominated film producer Alexander Rodnyansky to eight-and-a-half years jail in absentia on Monday for spreading “fake” information about the Russian army.
Rodnyansky, 63, was born in Kyiv but spent most of his career in Russia, producing dozens of TV series and movies there including the Oscar-nominated crime drama Leviathan. He has been an outspoken critic of the Kremlin’s offensive since it sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022, repeatedly denouncing the invasion on social media.
He left the country shortly after, when he received a tip that his criticism had landed him in the Kremlin’s crosshairs. Later that year, Russia’s Ministry of Justice declared him a “foreign agent” and, in 2023, a Moscow court ordered his arrest in absentia.
Moscow’s Basmanny court found him guilty of “spreading knowingly false information about the use of the Russian armed forces” on Monday, according to a statement by Moscow’s court service.
Rodnyansky said the case was related to his “anti-war posts on Instagram” and said he strongly disagreed with the verdict.
“No Basmanny court can stop me from speaking loudly and doing what I have been doing all my life, making films,” he said in a post on Telegram.
Last year, he wrote in the Guardian, “No other country in the world recognises this crime and I don’t either. I will continue to speak out against the invasion on every platform available to me.”
Russia has detained, fined and jailed thousands of people for opposing its Ukraine offensive since February 2022 – a crackdown rights groups have compared to the Soviet era.
Rodnyansky began his career in Ukraine, where he founded the country’s first independent television network in 1995, but is better known for his film work in Russia.
A producer of more than 30 films, four have been nominated for an Oscar in the best foreign film category: Chief in Love, Est-Ouest, Leviathan and Loveless.
Loveless, about an estranged couple forced to work together after their child goes missing, won the jury prize at the Cannes film festival.
Leviathan, following one man’s battle against Russian corruption after he is evicted from his family’s lands, won the Golden Globe award for best foreign-language film in 2015.
