you can’t pay “foreign agents”, you need pirated content

Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of Russia, the author of many loud declarations in support of the war in Ukraine, Dmitry Medvedev called on people deemed to be “foreign agents” to leave Russia, and also advocated piracy, i.e. infringing copyright, the distribution of content belonging to Western companies.

He illustrated his idea of ​​depriving “foreign agents” of their income with the example of a film based on the work of Boris Akunin. The writer has been living abroad for several years, he actively condemns the Russian invasion of Ukraine. At the same time, Akunin (Georgy Chkhartyshvili) is not included in the register of “foreign agents”.

In an interview with the Russian mass media and VKontakte users, excerpts from which have been published for several days in a row, Medvedev, in particular, said that it is necessary to introduce amendments to the legislation and “directly establish that persons recognized as foreign agents do not have the right to receive income from sources in Russia”. “Someone Akunin. He is a talented writer. He left, he curses the country, curses a special military operation… At the same time, our mass media and companies continue to publish works based on his books… Another version of this “Azazel” appears . They staged it for the fourth time! One wonders why? Order a similar dystopia to someone,” Medvedev said. At the same time, he said that people who went abroad after the start of the war and “sit quietly”, that is, did not oppose the war, did not break the law and can return to Russia.

Apparently, the ex-president of Russia had in mind the mini-series “Fandorin. Azazel”, which was released at the beginning of the year. It is based on Akunin’s novel “Azazel” – however, the action has been moved to the 21st century.

Earlier it was reported that Akunin’s name was removed from the posters of a number of Russian theaters, which continue to stage performances based on his works, and in some bookstores his books, as well as the works of “foreign agents”, are wrapped in paper so that the cover is not visible.

Akunin did not directly comment on Medvedev’s statements. However, he wrote on Facebook on Saturday that he wrote a new “unplanned” novel about the adventures of Erast Fandorin and his friend Masa. Akunin also writes that he received statistics from an American website on which his e-books are sold. “One interesting circumstance was discovered, which I did not expect at all. Thirty percent of buyers are from the Russian Federation! That is, many do not want to pay money in their country, although the price in the American store is significantly higher,” – writes Akunin.

Also, in his interview, Dmitry Medvedev called for the violation of copyrights of Western companies on intellectual property. According to him, users from Russia should get access to Western music and movies with the help of pirated resources. “If they leave us, all kinds of “Netflix” and others, then we will download it all, we will use it for free. And I would scatter it all over the network in order to cause them maximum damage. Maximum damage so that they go bankrupt!” Medvedev said.

This position was already supported by Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov. “We are dealing with pirates – [это] the one who robbed us, the one who seized our assets, stole our assets. The phrase “pirate content” should already be perceived under the second sauce,” TASS quotes Peskov as saying.

• After the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, the main Hollywood film producers – Warner Bros., Universal, Paramount, Disney and Sony – suspended the distribution and licensing of their productions in Russia, and some of them then completely withdrew from the Russian market. Video service Netflix has also stopped working in Russia.
• Russian authorities can recognize as “foreign agents” any persons who receive financing from abroad or “are under foreign influence.” Many restrictions are prescribed for them in Russian legislation, they are not prohibited from receiving money from Russian sources. Human rights activists consider the Russian law on “foreign agents” to be discriminatory and point out that it is applied selectively and for political reasons.