21 December 2025
The film “Good Neighbors,” a hodgepodge of anti-Semitism, xenophobia, and conspiracy theories, was widely discussed in opposition circles. The news that Russia is planning to film a comedy series about the war in Ukraine, titled “The Other Side of the Coin,” went virtually unnoticed. And that’s a shame.
The announced series has its roots directly in the Putin administration: it will be produced with the support of the Internet Development Institute (IRI), which receives billions of rubles from the state to cultivate “civic identity” and “spiritual and moral values” among the population. IRI’s CEO is Alexei Goreslavsky, a former Putin administration official, and Sergei Kiriyenko serves on its supervisory board. Projects funded by the institute include works with telling titles: “Those Who Left, How Are You?”, “Ramzan. Akhmat – the Power of Russia,” and “Women Z.”
Not like in Chechnya
From the very beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and especially after the mobilization in September 2022, Putin, using the full force of Russian propaganda, tried to portray the aggression in Ukraine as a “people’s war.” It didn’t work. The country is simply tired, apathetic, and largely wants the war to end. And as the “heroes of the SVO” return from behind the ribbons, killing, raping, and maiming anyone they come across with impunity, fear and disgust began to mingle with the apathy.
The Kremlin’s ideologists have apparently decided that it’s time to inject the population with an antidote.
War comedy is a fundamentally new genre for Russian propaganda. No comedies have been made about the war in Chechnya at public expense (or even privately). The two “Chechen campaigns” featured roughly the same events as today’s Ukraine, albeit on a smaller scale. Residential neighborhoods razed to the ground by artillery, village “cleansings” with the mass, brutal killings of civilians, looting, and a filtration camp (then in Chernokozovo; today there are many more) with torture, rape, and extortion.
But there’s a fundamental difference between the Chechen wars and the current war in Ukraine. Between 1994 and 1996, the atrocities of the Russian military and the realities of war were, on the one hand, freely and relatively truthfully reported on TV and in newspapers, for a time. On the other hand, public engagement with the topic was far lower than it is today. Apart from journalists and human rights activists, the events in Chechnya concerned, for the most part, only the soldiers themselves and their families, and the mothers of conscripts who were being sent en masse to the Caucasus. For the rest of Russia, it was a local story on the outskirts of the empire.
There was no mobilization back then. Coffins were arriving from Chechnya, just as they had from Afghanistan, but compared to Ukraine, they were few. Mentally damaged people also returned from the Chechen wars, but there weren’t many of them, and they mostly disappeared unnoticed, rather than becoming untouchables and a “new elite”—someone you’d be better off crossing the street if you saw one.
The war in Ukraine has become a far greater problem for the Kremlin than the Chechen campaigns, not only in the media (the atrocities of Russian soldiers are instantly shared on social media with millions of viewers), but also in the social arena. This war, like a slowly killing poison, completely permeates today’s Russian reality.
Does laughter kill fear?
The answer to the question of why they decided to make a comedy is simple: the formula “laughter kills fear” is well-known. They want to provide the population with psychological relief. It’s impossible to erase the war from the public consciousness, so propaganda is faced with the task of transforming it from a tragedy into a comedy with a simple plot:
A group of volunteers arrives in a combat zone. The new recruits are assigned to an experienced soldier with the call sign Cuba, who is reluctant to deal with new recruits but instead follows the orders of his immediate commander. Their first task is setting up a temporary deployment point in a destroyed building. Thus begins the young soldiers’ daily life under the watchful eye of experienced commanders.
The daily life of young soldiers under the supervision of experienced commanders…
Well, yes. Weekdays filled with smiles and saturated with camaraderie. Who will be playing the accordion there, impersonating soldier Brovkin: “Yeralashevets” Loye or “cadet” Golovin?
Comedian Vadim Galygin will produce the Kremlin clown show about those who fought “fascism.” Oleg Fomin has been appointed director. Those over forty might remember him from his perestroika-era films “My Name Is Arlekino” and “The Fan.” Of the cast, the only ones I regret are Alexander Mikhailov, who for some reason decided to ruin his career in his later years, and Vladimir Epifantsev, who once brilliantly played Vavilen Tatarsky in the film adaptation of “Generation P” and even declared that we live in a fascist military state where only killing on command is permitted .
Instead of sitcoms
The news that the war was being turned into a comedy didn’t exactly resonate with Z-patriots. Mikhail Ivanov, deputy chairman of the World Russian People’s Council and a United Russia member of the Bryansk Regional Duma, called the idea “deeply flawed and immoral” and noted that ridiculing how mothers and wives lose and mourn their sons and husbands is unacceptable.
Ivanov, the “cathedral” deputy, should take his indignation to the aforementioned Putin administration. They’ll quickly explain to him that this is a comedy series, and it’s best to keep quiet before the article about discrediting the army sticks.
However, Ivanov’s point of view is undoubtedly shared by many. Here, for example, is an angry retort from a VKontakte public group:
Has the director ever been behind the scenes? Does he understand what it’s like to see fellow soldiers torn to pieces? Or what it’s like to see a mortally wounded comrade die in your arms? Hilarious, huh? Time for a little irony?
The masses’ categorical rejection of the current atrocity could influence the outcome. Mockery of living and dead SVO veterans will not pass!
It’s easy to guess what will come out of this venture. There’s no mention of “The Good Soldier Švejk,” which probably comes to mind for many as the most obvious, classic example of a war comedy. Even with possible similarities in technique. Because Švejk is an anti-war satire, while Fomin’s film is war propaganda with a humorous undertone.
Russians will be shown a low-quality, cliched narrative about good, kind, sincere, and funny Russian soldiers. Something like the TV series “Soldiers,” which was fed to the undiscerning mass audience for ten years.
Only with the obligatory placement of ideological labels: Ukronazis, the defense of Russians, traditional values, the whole world is against us. And Ukrainians, armed and defending their country, will undoubtedly be portrayed as the epicenter of global evil.
The target audience for such content is TNT sitcom viewers, who weren’t directly affected by the war. Although the Kremlin’s political bloc likely has more ambitious goals for the creators of this propaganda. However, the mission to combine a “holy war” with entertainment is doomed to failure.
It’s impossible to make those watching the war from their couches laugh without infuriating those who buried their husbands and sons. It’s either a cross or cowards, as the saying goes…
***
Young people will inevitably parlay this propaganda into memes and gags, and they will resurface daily before the eyes of the relatives of the dead, whose lives Putin forever ruined. During the war, he got rid of at least 150,000 Russian men—and these are only those whose deaths were confirmed; other sources cite higher figures, with the American Center for Strategic and International Studies putting the figure at 250,000.
It’s time to sit down in front of the screen with a bowl of dumplings and beer and laugh your ass off at the comical reality of war. And let the torn-apart corpses rotting in the trenches, the blood, the filth, the meanness, the theft, the drunkenness, the drugs, the vomit, the pits for conscientious objectors, the torture involving tooth extraction, and the bloody assaults that enrich commanders—leave it all behind the scenes.
“The war in Ukraine has become a far greater problem for the Kremlin than the Chechen campaigns, not only in the media (the atrocities of Russian soldiers are instantly shared on social media with millions of viewers), but also in the social arena. This war, like a slowly killing poison, completely permeates today’s Russian reality.”
The russian soul was already a dark one, having been subjugated by ruthless leaders and wealthy elite for eons, who rape the land and its inhabitants every which way they can. Just look at the country outside moscovia and st. pete. It’s like the deepest Africa, only worse, because along with the general dilapidation and filth, there are long, dark winters. No amount of humor can heal it.
This war is a toxin for an already sick and dying nation. I hope it’ll di*e quickly and painfully.
None of the sheep realise that they have no future. There is no money for anything, except weapons.
Right, and even that is running out.
I saw the video with those 3 clowns. I doubt any of them are alive today, they could barely stand, never mind attack anyone.
I also saw that video. They have faces you can’t easily forget.
Yeah. Not a braincell between them, but they know how to open a vodka bottle.
Or how to drain the antifreeze from their shaky Ladas for personal consumption.