The Russian Academy said in a statement that will not present any film to compete in the category of best foreign film at the 2023 gala.
The head of the committee in charge of sending Russian feature films to the Oscars, Pavel Chukhrai, denounced on Tuesday a decision made “behind his back” and announced his resignation.
On Monday, Nikita Mikhalkov, one of Russia’s most acclaimed directors and a staunch supporter of President Vladimir Putin, estimated that it would be useless to compete for the statuette.
“Choosing a film that will represent Russia in a country that now denies the existence of Russia is simply useless,” he told the TASS public news agency.
Mikhalkov recalled that he had proposed to create a “Eurasian” equivalent of the Oscars and that his project is being developed.