State Duma deputy Drapeko denied reports of a call to ban Balabanov's films

State Duma deputy, Honored Artist of Russia Elena Drapeko, in an interview with Izvestia on August 14, said that her words about the ban on films by Russian and Soviet director Alexei Balabanov were distorted.

On the same day, information appeared in the media that Drapeko proposed banning Balabanov's films that do not correspond to spiritual and moral values. In addition, according to media reports, the deputy added that in the 1990s, "a lot of different things were filmed in Russia." In her opinion, it is necessary to show such works to children and youth "carefully".

"Balabanov is a very talented and bright director. He has wonderful films to watch and review. Specifically, there was a conversation about the film "Cargo-200". And whether it is necessary to show it to schoolchildren within the framework, here we have film lessons at school. I said that I would not want children to watch such a film," said the deputy.

She stressed that she did not propose to work out the issue at the legislative level. According to her, there are traditional values that are promoted in the country, such as love for the Motherland and respect for the army.

"You see, there's not much of that there. That's why I wouldn't want us to recommend it, but there's no need to ban anything," she added.

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On July 22, the deputies of the State Duma adopted amendments to the law banning films discrediting Russian values. It will enter into force on March 1, 2026. The law expands the list of grounds for refusing to issue a film rental certificate, providing that such grounds would be the presence in the film of materials discrediting traditional Russian spiritual and moral values.

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