Ukraine has imposed sanctions on the Russian children’s cartoon “Masha and the Bear” along with its producers, as announced by Kyiv’s culture minister on Friday. The minister criticized the series, labeling it a tool of Russian propaganda and indicating that this action is a step towards a potential ban on the show.
The sanctions — imposed through a decree issued by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky — target a Russian studio that produced the cartoon, Animaccord, its founder, as well as the series’ scriptwriter and director.
“Ukraine has imposed sanctions against the producers and distributors of the Russian animated series ‘Masha and the Bear’,” Ukrainian Culture Minister Tetyana Berezhna said on X. “This creates legal grounds to block the content in Ukraine and engage international platforms to restrict its monetization and distribution,” she said, adding that “Russian propaganda has no place on children’s screens. Asked about the sanctions, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the cartoon series has “conquered the world” by promoting “the finest human qualities”. In June, Ukraine protested against Netflix’s move to acquire the rights to stream new seasons of “Masha and the Bear”. But according to the Ukrainska Pravda newspaper, in August 2025 the Ukrainian YouTube channel for “Masha and the Bear” topped the ranking of the most popular channels for children in the war-torn country.
