Russia eyes tripling ticket prices for films from “unfriendly” countries

Russian lawmakers have proposed tripling the price of cinema tickets for films produced in countries deemed “unfriendly” to Russia.

The initiative, announced by Sergey Malinkovich, head of the Communists of Russia party and a State Duma deputy, is aimed at limiting access to foreign media perceived as ideologically harmful, Caliber.Az reports via Russian media.

According to Malinkovich, foreign films primarily attract wealthy Russians who are dissatisfied with life in their own country. “We fully understand that cinema, music, and visual arts are, among other things, weapons in the ideological war. Western countries have long portrayed Russian people as criminals and negative characters, while depicting our country even worse. We need to respond,” he said.

Malinkovich also suggested using artificial intelligence to alter foreign films that present false narratives about Russia. “Many foreign directors have enormous imagination. They make movies with scary Soviet spies who kill everyone, Russian women who can deceive anyone, and portray the Second World War as if the U.S. won it. Now artificial intelligence allows us to change all that in five minutes. We buy the film, receive the distribution certificate — after that, it’s no one else’s business what we do with it,” he added.

By Vugar Khalilov