Animaccord Spokesperson Denies Military Propaganda Allegations Against Masha and the Bear

Jakarta - A spokesperson for the animation studio Animaccord, Melanie Bonvicino, has refuted allegations linking the popular cartoon series ‘Masha and the Bear’ to Russian military propaganda content. “My client firmly rejects the false and defamatory accusations that ‘Masha and the Bear’ is connected to propaganda,” said Melanie, as reported by The Guardian on Thursday (2/7). Melanie asserted that for nearly two decades, the ‘Masha and the Bear’ series has solely broadcast universal themes of friendship, kindness, and imagination to entertain families in more than 100 countries. “The series contains no political messages, and any claims to the contrary are completely unsupported by its content,” Melanie stated. Animaccord also confirmed that it is a private business operating fully in accordance with the law and has never received government funding. The statement was issued by Animaccord after the character Masha in the animated series ‘Masha and the Bear’ was protested by a group of Members of Parliament in the UK for wearing a hat featuring a five-pointed red star symbol in one of its promotional image posts. They wrote a letter to Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy requesting intervention. The MPs said the image was also used on the studio’s English-language X account, Animaccord, a Russian animation studio headquartered in Cyprus. The post featured the caption: “A real army girl with a butterfly net! Woo hoo, I’m in the army now!”. According to the UK parliamentarians, in one episode of ‘Masha and the Bear’, Masha was also dressed in what appeared to be a Soviet border guard cap, historically associated with the NKVD – the Soviet Union’s secret police agency. They stated that the agency was “responsible for the mass deportation, execution, and persecution of tens of millions of people”. The concerns from the group of British MPs relate to comments from Ukraine’s Centre for Countering Disinformation, which labelled ‘Masha and the Bear’ an instrument of Russian soft power. Following the announcement of a new global distribution deal for ‘Masha and the Bear’ last month, Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna also voiced concerns similar to those of the British MPs. However, the cartoon, which is broadly based on traditional Russian oral folklore, is one of the most popular shows of all time on YouTube. One of its seven-minute episodes, ‘Recipe for Disaster’, has been viewed more than 4.6 billion times on the site.