Russian propaganda continues to use occupied Mariupol to promote the Kremlin’s version of the events of the war and create an image of Russia as supposedly the city’s “savior.” This time, a series called “Marik,” set in captured Mariupol, was produced in Russia. The Center for Countering Disinformation writes about this, UNN reports.
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According to the CCD, the series’ main character is military medic Mark Aksyonov, who, after returning from the front, comes to Mariupol, gets a job with an ambulance brigade, and begins a new life.
The series depicts the city as supposedly gradually “reviving” and returning to peaceful life. At the same time, as the Center for Countering Disinformation emphasizes, the plot conceals the key fact that Mariupol’s extensive destruction resulted from the Russian siege and hostilities in the spring of 2022.
The project was created with the support of Russia’s Internet Development Institute, which funds propagandistic content. The series was directed by Yegor Beroev, whom the CCD calls a supporter of Russia’s full-scale invasion and notes is under Ukrainian sanctions.
The CCD believes that through similar media projects, the Kremlin is attempting to change perceptions of the events in Mariupol and shape viewers’ understanding of Russia as a state that supposedly “restores” the captured city.
At the same time, the agency emphasizes that such propagandistic narratives cannot change the documented facts concerning Mariupol’s destruction and the course of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.