Masha and the Bear faces Ukraine sanctions

Ukraine has sanctioned the Russian children's cartoon “Masha and the Bear” and people and companies behind it, creating legal grounds to block the series in Ukraine, Culture Minister Tetyana Berezhna said Friday.

Berezhna said on X that Ukraine had imposed sanctions on the producers and distributors of the animated series. She said the move would allow Ukraine to seek limits on the cartoon's monetization and distribution by international platforms, and described the series as Russian propaganda.

The sanctions were imposed through a decree by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. They target Russian studio Animaccord, which produced the cartoon, as well as its founder and the series' scriptwriter and director.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov rejected the allegations. He said the series had “conquered the world” by promoting “the finest human qualities” and accused Ukrainian authorities of launching “a war against cartoons”.

The cartoon, about a mischievous girl and a retired circus bear, is widely known in Russia and has been watched tens of billions of times on YouTube. It has been broadcast in about 100 countries and has inspired spin-offs.

The series has also drawn criticism in Ukraine and allied countries, including the United Kingdom and Estonia, over claims that it presents Russia positively and works as an instrument of Moscow's soft power.

Ukraine protested in June against Netflix's move to acquire rights to stream new seasons of “Masha and the Bear”. Since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russian cultural products have become less widespread in Ukraine because of boycotts and official restrictions.

Ukrainska Pravda reported that in August 2025 the Ukrainian YouTube channel for “Masha and the Bear” topped the ranking of the most popular children's channels in Ukraine. The channel has more than 18 million subscribers.