Using public funds for screening of Russian soldiers doc ‘not right’: Freeland [Video]

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland denounced Tuesday the use of public funds for a documentary about Russian soldiers, hours before a crowd of people protested its screening at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Freeland said she shares the “grave concerns” raised about “Russians at War,” a film set to make its North American debut at TIFF on Friday. 

“It’s not right for Canadian public money to be supporting the screening and production of a film like this,” Freeland said while speaking to reporters Tuesday in Nanaimo, B.C.

The documentary, described as a story of Russian soldiers’ disillusionment with the war in Ukraine, has drawn the ire of Ukrainian officials and members of the Ukrainian-Canadian community who called it “Russian propaganda.” 

A protest organized by the Ukrainian-Canadian Congress had dozens of people chanting “Shame on TIFF” outside a downtown Toronto theatre Tuesday as the film was shown to members of the press …