The director of The Master and Margarita is to be included in the list of "extremists and terrorists" in Russia for financing the Armed Forces of Ukraine

Russian filmmaker Mikhail Lokshin, who recently premiered a new adaptation of Mikhail Bulgakov's novel The Master and Margarita, is being demanded to be punished in Russia for "fakes about the Russian army." They want to open a criminal case against the filmmaker. In addition, the Z-patriots hope to add the director's name to the list of "extremists and terrorists" for "financing the Armed Forces of Ukraine."

According to a number of propaganda outlets, after the full-scale invasion, Lokshin repeatedly published posts in support of Ukraine, noting that he wished our country victory and that Russia would pay all reparations. However, all of the posts whose screenshots are being distributed by propagandists have now been removed from the director's page. Currently, only one single post remains on his profile, and it is dedicated to The Master and Margarita.

What outrages Putinists the most in this whole situation is the fact that back in 2021, Lokshin received money from the Russian state budget to make a movie based on Bulgakov's novel. Some resources write that it was 800 million rubles, while others raise the stakes to 1.2 billion rubles. The propagandists are scared, saying that a "great novel" could be adapted by a "Russophobe and a Ukrainian".

Lokshin wrote all his posts in English, as he was born in the United States and, according to some sources, does not even have Russian citizenship. In particular, he allegedly published true information about the crimes of the Russian occupiers in Bucha, drew a parallel between Russia and Nazi Germany, mentioning reparations, trials of war criminals of the Third Reich, and the process of denazification of the country.

Russian sources also publish posts confirming that the director did indeed provide financial support to Ukraine. However, it is difficult to verify their authenticity now, because Lokshin, as we have already noted above, has deleted all his publications, except for advertising his own film.

Meanwhile, Russians are having a real hysteria. Fans of Putin's regime and the war are particularly active online: "The director of 'The Master and Margarita' donates to Kyiv propagandists and hates Russia, while receiving funding from it - he is convinced that all Russians should pay Ukraine." "Question: was there no one else to give so much money to the film adaptation of a Russian novel? And yes, of course, I watched the movie. It was entertaining. They finished Bulgakov's novel and rewrote it to make it more entertaining for fans. And of course, an American with a degree in psychology knows how to do it better than Bulgakov. It goes without saying," "It's funny that Mars Media, the company that produced the film, did not pay attention or ignored the fact that it was giving money to a Russophobe who openly supports the enemy and was once on Navalny's side."

More interestingly, the lead role in The Master and Margarita was played by Yevhen Tsyganov, an actor who had previously openly expressed his anti-war position. In particular, he admitted that the Kremlin was using propaganda to instill hatred of Ukrainians in Russians, and he also told how he published his first anti-war post a month before the full-scale invasion. But Yulia Snigir, who played Margarita, did not say anything about the war: she did not speak out against it, but she did not support Russian aggression either.