Ukraine moves to sanction Russian cartoon “Masha and the Bear” over links to Kremlin funding

Ukraine’s Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications has expressed support for imposing sanctions on the Russian cartoon series Masha and the Bear, following a formal request by Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, the head of the parliamentary Committee on Freedom of Speech.

In a statement responding to his inquiry, the ministry said it considered sanctions against the cartoon “appropriate,” according to Yurchyshyn, who shared the letter publicly. “I thank my colleagues at the Ministry of Culture for their analysis and position. Their response makes it clear that sanctions on this series are justified,” he wrote on social media.

The series belongs to the Moscow-based animation studio Animaccord, which pays taxes to the Russian budget and, despite its registration through Cypriot offshore entities, maintains direct ties with Russia through its ownership, management, and copyright structure. This, Yurchyshyn argued, qualifies the company as a “sponsor of terrorism”, EUalive’s partner Suspilne writes.

The MP noted that Animaccord continues to profit from Ukrainian audiences, despite YouTube’s restrictions on monetisation for Russian creators. These limitations do not apply to views originating from Ukrainian territory. The studio operates a Ukrainian-language version of Masha and the Bear, which remains highly popular among children in Ukraine.

“Every view means money going to Russia, where taxes fund the state’s war machine – this effectively means financing terrorism,” Yurchyshyn said.

“There is no alternative here other than imposing sanctions. The only question is who will initiate them,” he added.

The National Police of Ukraine has also confirmed the cartoon’s Russian ties and called for restrictive measures.

The controversy follows reports from late August showing that the Ukrainian-language YouTube channel for Masha and the Bear ranked first among the 20 most popular children’s channels registered in Ukraine.

According to digital media analyst Olga Tyshchuk-Volska, head of Tyshchuk Digital HUB, Russian producers could have earned as much as 2.4 million US dollars from Ukrainian viewers in 2025 alone, as the channel’s total views exceeded 800 million.

The animated series, produced by Animaccord, previously aired on Ukrainian television – first on Inter TV, then on 1+1, even after 2014. In 2017, Ukraine’s State Film Agency reviewed the legality of its broadcast, noting that the show contained “elements of Russian propaganda narratives.”

More recently, Oleksandr Alfiorov, head of the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory, warned that Masha and the Bear promotes Russian cultural influence among children, reinforcing narratives aligned with the Kremlin’s soft power agenda.

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 triggered an immediate and profound rupture in cultural exchange between the two nations and with the broader world. Long-standing collaborations in literature, film, music, and theater – once symbolized by joint festivals, co-productions, and shared Slavic heritage – collapsed under sanctions, boycotts, and mutual distrust. Ukrainian artists and institutions severed ties with Russian counterparts, viewing them as complicit in or silenced by Kremlin propaganda; for instance, the Kyiv International Film Festival banned Russian entries, and prominent Ukrainian writers like Andrey Kurkov called for a global boycott of Russian cultural exports.

Western institutions followed suit, canceling performances by Russian state-affiliated orchestras (e.g., the Bolshoi Ballet’s tours) and removing works by living pro-regime figures from repertoires, while platforms like Spotify and Netflix restricted Russian content. This isolation has starved Russian audiences of diverse perspectives, reinforcing state-controlled narratives, and deprived Ukraine of revenue from shared cultural markets.

The original version of this article in Ukrainian can be found here.

Caption: In one of the episodes, Masha wears a cap resembling the insignia of the Soviet army and the NKVD./Animaccord. Image shown for educational purposes.