Marat Basharov, Russian actor
Marat Basharov/ Instagram
Russian actor Marat Basharov openly supported Russia’s war against Ukraine. On 24 February, the actor posted a photo of himself with Putin on his Instagram page and briefly captioned the photo with the word “Thank you” in Russian.
After that, Basharov was even fired from his job. The head of the Moscow Drama Theatre “School of Modern Play” at the time, Joseph Raihelgauz, who was originally from Odesa and did not support the criminal invasion of the Russian Federation into Ukraine, sharply condemned the actor’s gesture and called such an act disgusting. He stated that the actor could not continue working in this theatre. However, shortly after that, the dictatorial leadership of Russia dismissed artistic director Raihelgauz from his post because of his condemnation of the war.
Basharov visited Donbas several times. He was also there on Russia Day, 12 June. During another trip in mid-August 2022, the actor explained that he was there “because of his citizenship”.
Basharov also condemned Russian stars who did not support the war against Ukraine and left the Russian Federation. The actor compared this situation to family relationships when children allegedly abandon their mother, who is not well at the moment and does not help her. And when she is well, they will supposedly come back anyway.
Main statements and events
1. On the first day of the full-scale war, he published a photo with Putin on social networks with the inscription “Thank you” in Russian (24 February 2022):
2. He visited occupied Luhansk and spoke there on Russia Day (12 June 2022):
3. He condemned colleagues who did not support the war and left Russia. He compared the Russian Federation to a mother and them to ungrateful children (August 2, 2022):
