British MPs demand Russian 'propaganda' cartoon Masha and the Bear be removed from streaming services
A cross-party group of British MPs has written a letter to UK Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy asking her to remove the Russian animated series Masha and the Bear from streaming services, BBC News Russian reports.
The letter states that Masha and the Bear is a “not entirely subtle” propaganda tool, pointing to a 2010 episode called Border Locked. In it, Masha guards a bear's garden, wearing a cap similar to those worn by the officers of the NKVD, the Stalinist secret police.
The MPs emphasised that the NKVD was responsible for mass deportations, executions, and persecution of tens of millions of Soviet citizens, noting that the animated series “actively normalises Soviet military iconography for a global audience of young children”. As additional proof, they submitted a now-deleted 2015 tweet from the English-language account of Animaccord Studio, which produces the cartoon, in which Masha is wearing a service cap and proclaiming “A real army girl with a butterfly net! Who hoo, I’m in the army now!”
“British parents have a right to expect that content reaching their children through licensed platforms has been subject to proper scrutiny, especially where credible concerns about state propaganda have been raised by our allies,” the letter concluded.
In late June, Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna called the cartoon “part of the Kremlin's soft power”. According to him, “pro-Kremlin and militaristic messages” are being introduced into children's entertainment content, “normalising Russia's aggression and imperial ambitions”.
Discussions about restricting the broadcast of Masha and the Bear are also ongoing in Ukraine. In the fall of 2025, Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Freedom of Speech, announced that the National Police had confirmed the cartoon's connection to the aggressor country and supported the idea of imposing sanctions.
In the UK, Masha and the Bear is available on Netflix and the streaming service ITVX, which is owned by the British broadcaster ITV. The animated series is also broadcast on TV in Germany, Italy, France, Poland, and other countries.
Animaccord Studio denied accusations of Russian propaganda. The creators of the animated series emphasised that they permanently left Russia in 2025 and do not receive Russian state funding.
“For nearly two decades, Masha and the Bear has entertained families in more than 100 countries through universal themes of friendship, kindness and imagination. The series contains no political messaging, and any claim to the contrary is wholly unsupported by its content,” Melanie Bonvicino, a spokesperson for Animaccord, said, as quoted by the Guardian.
