The creator of the animated series "Masha and the Bear" Oleg Kuzovkov saw a prototype of Masha, resting in the Crimea. A little hyperactive girl has subjugated all adults nearby.. However, when creating the series, Kuzovkov could hardly guess how popular he would become, and he certainly wasn’t going to make the Kremlin’s influence agent out of Masha..

Masha and the Bear quickly won viewers' screens in Russia and the CIS. The rights to show the animated series bought the director of a large Italian television channel for children Rai YoYo Massimo Liofredi. His review: “Ratings are crazy. Masha and I broke all records. 800 thousand viewers at the same time! No cartoon look like that. ”. Lyophiedi showed three times in a row three times a day.. Parents in blogs noted that the film is instructive and kind, unlike most other. In Spain, the animated series has become even more popular than in Russia. The right to show bought China and Japan, Germany, Vietnam. Masha and Misha spoke in all languages. The cartoon was included by the American specialized magazine about animation and special effects in the list of “250 television shows destined to become classics.”.

The first such popularity ceased to rejoice in the Baltics. Masha was named the agent of influence of Moscow. Baltic politicians are concerned about the spread of Russian propaganda in Eastern Europe, they even demanded restrictions on the distribution of Russian cinema. The films “Brother”, “Seventeen Moments of Spring” and the cartoons “Three Heroes”, “Masha and the Bear” were among the most harmful.. In all Russian films propaganda of the image of a strong leader Vladimir Putin was seen..

And the UK "woke up". Professor at Buckingham University, Anthony Glees, found in the character of Masha excessive pushiness. And poor “Masha” suddenly suddenly became an element of Putin’s propaganda.. “It’s not an exaggeration to say that she behaves like Putin’s” and “she takes too much on herself,” said Anthony Glees.. Well, if you look at cartoons in this vein, you can ask which of the presidents the characters of "Tom and Jerry" were written from? Especially the story in which a mouse sticks a fork in the back of a cat? And can the plot be viewed as a warning: you shouldn’t doze off, get in the back and suddenly?.

Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of Russia Today, drew attention to the fact that the British press is outraged not by the girl’s mischief, but that Masha is Russian and looks like Russian President Vladimir Putin. That the Bear is too good, and therefore can make British children stop hating Russia. Simonyan thinks that if Masha were not Russian, the cartoon would have been applauded while standing. The whole trouble from her point of view is that “because their (Russian) success, like Masha and the Bear, can cause an unacceptable affection for Russians in British youth”.

Maria Zakharova, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, noted that if Masha from the Russian cartoon symbolizes modern Russia, then we should think about what the characters from the American cartoon "Tom and Jerry" embody. In a comment to the newspaper VIEW Zakharova noted that the Times newspaper sees a threat in an ordinary cartoon, but does not notice the regular shelling of Donbas residents.