A famous Russian film director launched a blistering attack on Vladimir Putin during a live discussion with the Kremlin dictator. Alexander Sokurov is one of Russia's most talented filmmakers, whose best-known work is the Russian Ark, released in 2002.
He also made Faust, which went on to win the Golden Lion award at the Venice Film Festival. The director was invited to attend a session of the Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights on Wednesday. Also present was the Russian leader, who joined the meeting via video link from his Kremlin fortress.
Members of the advisory body are rigorously vetted and picked by the Kremlin, and the sessions are carefully stage-managed to avoid any embarrassment occurring.
However, Sokurov went off-script in a big way as he criticised Putin for his wartime repressions. He attacked Russia's so-called 'foreign agents" law, saying it was humiliating and prevented people from “developing and continuing to exist”.
“Every week, we watch with concern to see who has become a foreign agent, or how these terrifying definitions are applied,” he said.
“They just name them, make various claims against a person, and then that’s it, it’s all over."
The label is used by the Kremlin to target individuals and organisations it views as enemies of the state.
Those hit with the designation are required to submit rigorous financial reports to the Justice Ministry, as well as display “foreign agent” disclaimers in publications and social media posts.
Sokurov then took aim at the ever-tighter censorship, saying that Russia still didn’t “know how to have political discussions with young people, with older schoolchildren, with students. The country is afraid of these discussions.”
"If we don't change how we work with young people, we won't get far," he added. "It will be a total dead end, an absolute regression of the entire state system."
Finally, he reminded the dictator of his own bitter remarks about Russia and its place in the world.
"You once said: ‘Why do we need a world if there is no Russia in it?’, he said. "Why do we need a state where there is no opportunity to get an education?”
