Trapped Russian Filmmaker Defies Putin on Censorship

Director Alexander Sokurov, 74, publicly denounced Russia's "foreign agents" law as "humiliating" in December 2025, calling it a tool that prevents people from "developing and continuing to exist." The rebuke is extraordinary because Sokurov—an internationally acclaimed auteur—issued it from inside Russia, where his passport was confiscated in 2022 after an order from the prime minister. Unable to leave the country, he faces an uncertain future as the Kremlin escalates pressure on cultural dissenters.