ITV bosses are facing accusations that a new documentary about the war in Ukraine will be used by ‘Putin’s propagandists’.
Publicity material states that programme-makers have embarked on a ‘journey to the Russian side of the war in eastern Ukraine’ to report on what is ‘almost exclusively a hidden and otherwise inaccessible side of this conflict’.
The 1 hour 50 minute special, Ukraine’s War: The Other Side, will be shown on ITV1 tomorrow night. The film was shot by Sean Langan, who was accompanied by a fixer from the Russian Foreign Ministry during filming.
Last night critics said ITV should not show the film just days after the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. They also warned that excerpts from the documentary are likely to be used by supporters of the Moscow regime in their social media war against the West.
In the documentary, Mr. Langan is repeatedly told by interviewees – both civilians and military personnel – that Russia wants to get rid of the ‘Nazi’ government in Kiev.
The 1 hour 50 minute special, Ukraine’s War: The Other Side, will be shown on ITV1 tomorrow night. The film was shot by Sean Langan, who was accompanied by a fixer from the Russian Foreign Ministry during filming
A scene from the documentary. Last night critics said ITV should not show the film, just days after the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
Critics also warned that excerpts from the documentary are likely to be used by supporters of the Moscow regime in their social media war against the West.
One scene shows a masked militia member claiming he was with Russian forces when they entered Bucha, north of Kiev, in April 2022. Researchers later recovered 458 bodies and found evidence of summary executions and mass rape of women and girls.
But the masked man denied that a massacre had taken place and walked away from the camera unchallenged.
In another scene, the filmmaker and a Russian tank commander visit a cache of captured NATO weapons in the eastern Ukrainian city of Svatove, when the building is stormed by a group of men reportedly from Russia’s Spetsnaz special forces.
One says: ‘Why did you bring him in? All hell is going to break loose now. I’ll eat his liver!’
Another says: ‘Tell him we’re looking at his liver. He always wanted to kill someone.”
After Sean persuades them to be interviewed, the men – who are dressed in balaclavas and combat fatigues – tell him that the Russians should not be underestimated, with one saying being: ‘Study Russian history carefully, and you will understand that the Russians never wanted war. The Russians don’t attack, the Russians really end wars.’
Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith, who has been to Ukraine twice since the start of the war, criticized the broadcaster for the film, saying: ‘My view is that it is a mistake for ITV to show this documentary now after Navalny and make the Russian side look human.
“Of course we are all human, but in this case the Russians are aggressors and have brought nothing but destruction to Ukraine.
“My fear now is that parts of this documentary will be used by Russian activists to prove their point: that Russia is on the right side.”
In the documentary, Mr. Langan is repeatedly told by interviewees – both civilians and soldiers – that Russia wants to get rid of the ‘Nazi’ government in Kiev.
Mr Langan, an independent filmmaker, previously made documentaries that sought to show “the other side” of a world conflict
Lee Anderson, the Tory MP for Ashfield, said: ‘I don’t think this documentary should be shown. At a time when the whole world is trying to help Ukraine at this difficult time, we need the support of the British public. But a documentary like this could reduce the support of the British public, and that is the concern, so these journalists have to be careful about what they do.”
Anthony Glees, a terrorism expert at Buckingham University, said: ‘I think it is a total mistake to show this documentary.
“The people of Ukraine are not Nazis – and if anyone is a Nazi, it is Vladimir Putin.
“So if this is repeated by people in this documentary, it could give oxygen to Putin’s propagandists.”
But ITV is behind the documentary. A spokesperson said: ‘This documentary is an example of independent journalism, telling a human story about the impact of war.
Sean Langan during filming. Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith, who has been to Ukraine twice since the start of the war, criticized ITV for the film, saying: ‘My view is that it is a mistake for ITV to show this documentary now after Navalny and make the Russian side look human. ‘
A scene from the Ukrainian war: the other side. The documentary also interviews ordinary Ukrainians in the Russian-controlled Donetsk region who say they are tired of the war
‘This film is a unique opportunity to see first-hand what is happening on the Russian-occupied side of the front line, clearly placed in the wider context of how the conflict was initiated by the Russian invasion.
‘The film provides a balanced insight into this war and was produced completely free of any political influence.’
In the documentary, Mr. Langan manages to talk to members of the Spetznaz, or Russian special forces, and eventually ends up on the front lines in a forested area near Kharkov called Sherwood Forest, which had just been taken over by the Russian armed forces after months of fighting. heavy fighting.
The documentary also interviews ordinary Ukrainians in the Russian-controlled Donetsk region who say they are tired of the war.
Mr Langan, an independent filmmaker, previously made documentaries that sought to show “the other side” of a world conflict.
In previous documentaries he interviewed the late leader of Hamas, Sheikh Yassin, in Gaza, who was assassinated by Israel in 2004.
Mr. Langan made another documentary in which he interviewed Taliban fighters in Afghanistan in 2007. The following year he was kidnapped by the Taliban, but released three months later.