Russian actor Artur Smolyaninov will face criminal charges in his home country over "anti-Russian" comments in a newspaper interview, investigators said, as per news agency Reuters.
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The actor who starred in the 2005 film "The 9th Company" about the Soviet Union's military campaign in Afghanistan, said in an interview that he would fight for Ukraine, not Russia, in case he had to take part in the ongoing war.
Earlier, Artur Smolyaninov had said that he was no longer living in Russia. The actor made the comments in an interview for Novaya Gazeta Europe, a newspaper which is now banned in Russia.
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Members of the Russian parliament condemned his remarks with one saying that Artur Smolyaninov should be barred from all state-contracted films.
"For my part, I will appeal to the Investigative Committee with a request to initiate a criminal case against this traitor," lawmaker Biysultan Khamzaev said.
{{/usCountry}}"For my part, I will appeal to the Investigative Committee with a request to initiate a criminal case against this traitor," lawmaker Biysultan Khamzaev said.
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This comes as Russian-backed separatist forces in the eastern Donetsk region of Ukraine said they had seized a village near the key city of Bakhmut. Meanwhile, Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky said that the area between Bakhmut and Soledar is "one of the bloodiest places on the front".