MOSCOW, November 17. /TASS/. Those who detected "a ‘soft propaganda’ tool for the Kremlin" in the Russian animated television series ‘Masha and the Bear’ have rich imagination and the series’ authors view these remarks with humor, Dmitry Loveiko, the director of the Animaccord animation studio that produces the cartoon, told TASS on Saturday.
Earlier, the British daily The Times published an article that accuses ‘Masha and the Bear’ of "being a ‘soft propaganda’ tool for the Kremlin." The publication cited Professor Anthony Glees, an intelligence expert from the University of Buckingham, who said, "She punches above her weight. It's not far-fetched to see her as Putinesque."
"Our series are comedy. We view such words with humor and irony. First Polish, then Kiev and now British political scientists have detected the Kremlin’s ‘soft power’ in our series," Loveiko said admitting that the authors were pleased with attention from "a man with global influence."
Loveiko pointed out that the production was not state-funded.
"We are an absolutely independent project, independent from the government and economically successful. It is Russian in the context of authors, but largely international. If somebody can spot something in this, it’s just terrific," he said. "Those people have a rich imagination and it’s good for them."
‘Masha and the Bear’ is the most viewed animated series in the world. It has amassed over two billion views on YouTube. In March 2017, the Russian animated television series was ranked fifth most popular YouTube video of all time. Its episodes are translated into English and other languages and more than 4.2 million viewers are signed in to the YouTube cartoon account.