Ukraine's Cinema Agency has banned a 2012 film featuring the country's current president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, because the film includes a Russian actress blacklisted by Kyiv for making an unauthorized visit to Ukraine's Russian-occupied region of Crimea.
The Kyiv-based agency says the Russian-Ukrainian comedy Eight New Dates cannot be screened at public theaters in Ukraine due to "national security concerns" because it includes the Russian actress Yekaterina Varnava.
Varnava was banned by Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) in 2017 from entering Ukraine for five years after she'd taken part in a 2016 comedy show in Crimea without permission from Ukrainian authorities to visit the Russian-occupied region.
Crimea was forcibly annexed by Russia through a widely discredited referendum in 2014 just weeks after Russian military forces seized the territory from Ukraine.
Kyiv's newly announced list of banned films also includes a 2010 U.S. action film called Machete, featuring actor Steven Seagal, and a 2008 French fantasy adventure Les Enfants de Timpelbach that features actor Gerard Depardieu.
Seagal and Depardieu were named to Ukraine's blacklist after they'd also visited Russian-occupied Crimea without permission from Ukrainian authorities.
Before winning the presidency in an April 2019 landslide election victory, Zelenskiy was a popular comedian known in both Ukraine and Russia.
Ukraine Bans Zelenskiy Film Over Inclusion Of Russian Co-Star
- By Current Time
Editors' Picks
Top Trending
1
NATO Members Romania, Latvia Accuse Russia Of Violating Airspace With Military Drones
2Ukraine Says 5 Killed In Russian Shelling Of Donetsk Region
3Live Briefing: Russia Invades Ukraine
4EU Hints At 'Swift' Response Over Iran Missile Supplies To Russia
5Uzbekistan's Increasingly Influential First Daughter Seen As Successor To President Mirziyoev
6'No One Is Safe': Life Under The Rule Of The Pakistani Taliban
7Ukraine Introduces Curfew In Pokrovsk With Russians Just Kilometers Away
8In Bulgaria, A Protester Burned A Russian Flag And Ended Up In Jail
9Ukrainian Drones Threaten Moscow And Its Airports As Russian Drones Target Kyiv
10Olympic Boxing Dispute Leaves Russia-Tied Central Asia In A Tight Corner
RFE/RL has been declared an "undesirable organization" by the Russian government.
If you are in Russia or the Russia-controlled parts of Ukraine and hold a Russian passport or are a stateless person residing permanently in Russia or the Russia-controlled parts of Ukraine, please note that you could face fines or imprisonment for sharing, liking, commenting on, or saving our content, or for contacting us.
To find out more, click here.
