October 19, 2026

Cartoons vs Kremlin


Cartoons vs Kremlin
Cartoon character Masyanya, and her creator, Russian cartoonist Oleg Kuvaev. Russian state media, Gazeta.ru

After a years-long criminal investigation, “Masyanya” creator Oleg Kuvaev was tried and sentenced in absentia for the series’ 169th episode. The Nevsky District Court in St. Petersburg sentenced the artist to four years and one month in a penal colony for his calls to action against Russia and violations of his foreign agent status.

“Masyanya” is a popular Russian web series that has been running since 2001. The series even became a part of mainstream TV programming, but has since been banned in Russia due to its pointed anti-war criticism.

Episode 169, titled “Idoliada,” was released in July 2023, with a criminal investigation into Kuvaev in October of the same year. By December 2023, the Russian Ministry of Justice listed Kuvaev as a foreign agent in its federal register.

The fateful fifteen-minute episode chronicles the meteoric rise of Anton Bloblin, a ruthlessly villainous head of state. Children sing absurd praises, and radios glorify the now-aging, balding tyrant. Masyanya, the title character, must lead the daily workplace ritual venerating Bloblin. Bloblin then orders a mass suicide in which the entire country perishes, aside from Masyanya and her boyfriend.

While the episode is a highly critical parable of Russian leadership (Bloblin is intended as a direct counterpart to Putin), one of the most egregious issues for the Russian Justice Ministry appears after the episode ends. Masyanya encourages Russian soldiers to surrender, and promotes “I Want to Live,” a Ukrainian hotline that helps Russian service members who do not want to fight surrender safely to the Ukrainian military.

Kuvaev has lived in Israel since 2006, snidely commenting on the court’s sentencing that “there is not much to talk about…maybe just, ‘I am sorry and concerned about the state of sanity in this rotten empire.”

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