Two-time Oscar-nominated Russian producer Alexander Rodnyansky blasts ‘tragic mistake’

By IANS

LOS ANGELES: Two-time Oscar-nominated producer Alexander Rodnyansky, who lives and works in Russia, has stated he felt “unbearably ashamed” and “incredibly, deeply sad” when his son known as from Kiev on Thursday with information that the Russian invasion of Ukraine had begun.

Rodnyansky, who was born in Kiev, stated in an e-mail interview with ‘Variety’: “Of course, I realised earlier than that the scenario may go this fashion, however I nonetheless could not imagine that missiles are exploding in Kiev.’

The producer of the Golden Globe winner ‘Leviathan’ and Cesar award-winner ‘Loveless’ stated: “I couldn’t imagine that Kiev, my native town, where my relatives, friends and colleagues live, where my parents and grandparents are buried, will be struck by missiles of the country where I have been living and working for the last 20 years, together with my family and friends.”

Trying to make sense of the present disaster, Rodnyansky drew a parallel to the Soviet Union’s struggle in Afghanistan, which started greater than 40 years in the past and raged for a decade.

He instructed ‘Variety’: “I remember very well how the Soviet government explained to us the absolute necessity of the Afghan war. And how it took 10 years, 15,000 Soviet soldiers and nearly a million Afghans killed to admit that it was a tragic error.”

Russia’s struggle on Ukraine, Rodnyansky stated, is “another tragic mistake”. It just isn’t as a result of “the national economy will crash, our country will stagnate in global isolation and deepen the ever-growing technological gap,” he stated, “but because the shame for this mistake will never go away. It will stay with our children and our grandchildren.”