A Russian filmmaker tells federal police that he's facing a domestic terrorism threat from Christian extremists

Filmmaker Alexey Uchitel, the director of a controversial upcoming movie, has filed a report with Russia’s Federal Security Service, following public comments by “Christian State” leader Alexander Kalinin, who told Meduza in an interview that Russian Orthodox activists nationwide are preparing acts of violence against cinemas and people who facilitate the release of his film. Uchitel argues that Kalinin’s comments incite acts of terrorism.

Uchitel's lawyer, Konstantin Dobrynin, reportedly claimed to federal police that Kalinin threatened to “impale” Uchitel in his Meduza interview. Kalinin later denied that he ever issued such a threat. This is true. In his interview, Kalnin told Meduza that there are Christians who believe violence against the filmmaker — even “impaling” him — is justified.

Two State Duma deputies have asked the heads of Russia’s Federal Investigative Committee and Interior Ministry to audit the actions of the conservative religious movement “Christian State — Holy Rus,” in response to threats by “Christian Orthodox activists” against movie theaters that plan to show Alexey Uchitel’s controversial new film “Matilda,” an upcoming movie about the ballerina Mathilde Kschessinska and her relationship with Nicholas II before he became tsar, which Orthodox Christian activists have condemned as a sacrilegious affront. In their appeal, the Duma deputies cite arson attacks against the movie’s production studio in St. Petersburg and a cinema in Yekaterinburg, as well as threats against a newspaper columnist who criticized the film’s opponents. 

In statement, the movement “Christian State — Holy Rus” argued that police shouldn’t fight against “ordinary Orthodox Russians who have been cornered and forced to break the law, in order to uphold their people’s sanctity and state ideals.” On September 12, Russia’s biggest chain of movie theaters announced that it won’t show “Matila,” fearing reprisals by Christian extremists.