Author of “Masyan” Kuvaev sentenced in absentia to four years in prison

Nevsky district court of St. Petersburg in absentia sentenced the creator of the animated series “Masyan” Oleg Kuvaev (included by the Ministry of Justice in the register of foreign agents) to four years and one month in a general regime colony. This was reported by the joint press service of the city courts.

The cartoonist was found guilty of public calls for activities against the security of the state through the Internet (part 2 of Art. 280.4) and evasion of the duties of a foreign agent (part 2 of Art. 330.1). In addition, the court banned him for four years to engage in activities related to the placement of publications on the Internet. The case was considered in the absence of Kuvaev, who is located outside Russia.

One of the episodes of the case involves the release of “Masyan” called “Idoliad”, published on July 14, 2023. The court found that the video contained calls for Russian servicemen to surrender, desert and not follow command orders. “The video contains public appeals to servicemen of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation to surrender, desertion, non-execution of orders of the military authorities, as well as advertising the project “I want to live” – “Single center of appeals of servicemen of the Russian Federation on surrender”, created with the support of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine”, – stated in the message of the court.

The Investigative Committee opened a criminal case against Kuvaev on public calls for activities against the security of the state in October 2023. In December, the artist was wanted under the article of the Criminal Code. In the same month, the Ministry of Justice included Kuvaev in the register of foreign agents.

Kuvaev began publishing the series “Masyanya” in 2001. Five years later, he left the studio "Mult.ru", leaving the rights to the first series, and continued to produce the animated series independently. In the spring of 2022, Roskomnadzor blocked the website on which Kuvaev posted Masyanya.

In the autumn of 2025, bailiffs began to forcibly recover fines from him for violations of the procedure for the activities of a foreign agent.