July 30, 2026

Soldiers: Better than Anime?


Soldiers: Better than Anime?
Role models? The Russian Life files.

On July 26, it was revealed that the head of RusNews was fined for a post quoting a "government official" who said that children should admire "special military operation heroes" rather than anime characters.

A Moscow court fined RusNews editorial head Sergey Aynbinder R30,000 ($384 USD) for "disseminating unreliable information under the guise of reliable information." Authorities opened a case against Aynbinder due to a post published on RusNews' Telegram channel on March 8. The text was titled, "Roskomnadzor found a replacement for anime and Mickey Mouse. These are the participants of [Russia's war in Ukraine]." 

The RusNews post was analyzing a proposal by Andrey Tsyganov, Roskomnadzor's former head of the Commission for the Protection of Children from Destructive Content. According to the publication, Tsyganov wanted to require children to "learn about positive heroes" rather than Western images, which he called a "legacy of the nineties." The former Roskomnadzor commission chair argued that Ukraine war soldiers and historical figures like Alexander Nevsky and Dmitry Donskoy should become role models.

Roskomnadzor's press service distanced itself from Tsyganov, saying that he was not a full-time government official (this being the reason the RusNews statement was incorrect). The court upheld the government institution's position. On July 25, it was revealed that the owner of the Telegram channel Daily Storm, Ksenia Shardt, also received a R30,000 fine for quoting Tsyganov in a post. The decisions for Shardt and Aynbinder's administrative cases were both reached on July 1.

 

 

You Might Also Like

The Useless Red Passport
  • July 29, 2026

The Useless Red Passport

Russia is effectively stripping those who have left the country of their citizenship.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of our Books

The Moscow Eccentric
December 01, 2016

The Moscow Eccentric

Advance reviewers are calling this new translation "a coup" and "a remarkable achievement." This rediscovered gem of a novel by one of Russia's finest writers explores some of the thorniest issues of the early twentieth century.

Fish
February 01, 2010

Fish

This mesmerizing novel from one of Russia’s most important modern authors traces the life journey of a selfless Russian everywoman. In the wake of the Soviet breakup, inexorable forces drag Vera across the breadth of the Russian empire. Facing a relentless onslaught of human and social trials, she swims against the current of life, countering adversity and pain with compassion and hope, in many ways personifying Mother Russia’s torment and resilience amid the Soviet disintegration.

Marooned in Moscow
May 01, 2011

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.

Russian Rules
November 16, 2011

Russian Rules

From the shores of the White Sea to Moscow and the Northern Caucasus, Russian Rules is a high-speed thriller based on actual events, terrifying possibilities, and some really stupid decisions.

White Magic
June 01, 2021

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka
November 01, 2012

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

In this comprehensive, quixotic and addictive book, Edwin Trommelen explores all facets of the Russian obsession with vodka. Peering chiefly through the lenses of history and literature, Trommelen offers up an appropriately complex, rich and bittersweet portrait, based on great respect for Russian culture.

Faith & Humor
December 01, 2011

Faith & Humor

A book that dares to explore the humanity of priests and pilgrims, saints and sinners, Faith & Humor has been both a runaway bestseller in Russia and the focus of heated controversy – as often happens when a thoughtful writer takes on sacred cows. The stories, aphorisms, anecdotes, dialogues and adventures in this volume comprise an encyclopedia of modern Russian Orthodoxy, and thereby of Russian life.

The Samovar Murders
November 01, 2019

The Samovar Murders

The murder of a poet is always more than a murder. When a famous writer is brutally stabbed on the campus of Moscow’s Lumumba University, the son of a recently deposed African president confesses, and the case assumes political implications that no one wants any part of.

About Us

Russian Life is the 31-year-old publication of an award-winning publishing house that also creates books, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955