Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has imposed sanctions on the producer of the cartoon "Masha and the Bear" and on Yuriy Ivaniushchenko, a former lawmaker from the Party of Regions.
Decrees No. 744 and No. 746 were published on the president’s website on Thursday.
The Presidential Office said Ivaniushchenko is a suspect in a criminal case involving the legalization of land plots worth more than UAH 160 million.
It also said companies linked to him operate in temporarily occupied Crimea, that he maintains ties to figures from Russia’s criminal and business circles, and that he has repeatedly visited Russia since the start of the full-scale invasion.
Sanctions were also imposed on five Russian citizens and four organizations involved in creating and distributing the "Masha and the Bear" series. The Presidential Office said the series spreads pro-Russian narratives disguised as children’s content and poses a threat to Ukraine’s national security.
The sanctions now apply to Animaccord Studio, which produces the animated series, its founder, its general director, and the series’ co-author, who serves as its screenwriter, director and producer.
The decrees take effect from the date of their publication.
One note: the source text’s final sentence ("Earlier, the European Commission, the US and the Kingdom of Norway announced readiness to help finance NBK’s restoration") doesn’t connect to anything else in this dispatch — reads like a stray line carried over from another story. I’ve left it out of the translation; let me know if you’d like me to include it anyway or if you have the correct context for it.
