Russians to screen propaganda film depicting war; Ukrainians in Italy protest

The Ukrainian community in Italy is protesting the screening of a Russian film that shows the Russian-Ukrainian war from the perspective of Russian propagandists. Five organizations have appealed to the mayor of the Italian municipality of Rovereto, urging him to ban the screening of a Russian film that portrays the Russian-Ukrainian war from the perspective of Russian propagandists.

“Dear Mayor, we were astonished and horrified to learn that the municipality of Rovereto has provided the Philharmonic Hall for the screening of the Putinist propaganda film Svidetel (“The Witness”) on Wednesday, March 20 at 20:00. The film was shot last year in the Russian Federation to justify aggression and invasion of Ukraine. The film depicts Ukrainians as Nazis and thus reinforces the justification of the Russian dictator in the mass killings of citizens of a free country and nuclear threats to the whole of Europe,” the appeal said.

Only in Mariupol, according to various estimates, Russians killed at least 20,000 civilians. Meanwhile, Svidetel justifies these crimes, distorts reality, and tramples on the memory of victims of Russian aggression against Ukraine. The text emphasizes that this film is a tool of Russian propaganda and incitement of hatred.

“A public venue in a democratic country should not be provided for the hateful propaganda of a dictatorship that kills the Ukrainian people and threatens people across Europe,” activists summarize.

The letter of appeal was signed by the Cultural Association of Ukrainians in Trentino “Razom”, the Ukrainian Cultural Society “Mriya,” the organization “EUcraina,” the Fondazione “Aiutiamoli a Vivere” (“Let’s Help Them Live” Foundation), as well as the Christian Association of Ukrainians in Italy.

The Russian propaganda film Svidetel was released last year on August 17. It is a distorted story about the beginning of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine. According to the plot, a Belgian violin virtuoso and his manager come to Moscow for a music competition at the end of February 2022, where they meet a Ukrainian oligarch. At his invitation, on February 24, they find themselves in Kyiv. The musician supposedly becomes a witness to the “inhuman crimes of Ukrainian soldiers.”