Cartoons in Russia

2025: Russian President Vladimir Putin instructed to deduct 10% of the rental of foreign animation to finance Russian

In May 2025, the president Russia Vladimir Putin instructed the government to develop a mechanism for deducting 10% of funds received from the rental of foreign animated films to finance Russian animation projects. The order was given following a meeting of the Council on Culture and Art and published on the official website of the Kremlin.

According to reports, TASS in addition, the head states ordered to develop mechanisms that ensure the direction of 20% of funds allocated to state support cinematography to finance national animated films. The Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Mikhail Mishustin and the executive director of the Federal Fund for Social and Economic Support of Domestic Cinematography Fedor Sosnov were appointed responsible for the implementation of the instructions.

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Фото: Kremlin Website

According to the published document, managers must provide a report on the implementation of this order by November 30, 2025. The funds will be accumulated in the Federal Fund for Social and Economic Support of Domestic Cinematography for the subsequent targeted financing of Russian animation projects.

The initiative to create such a financing mechanism was put forward by the chairman of the board of directors of the Soyuzmultfilm film studio Yuliana Slashcheva during the March meeting of the Council for Culture and Art. At the same time, the president promised to consider a proposal to deduct part of the fees from the rental of foreign cartoons for the needs of domestic animation.

The proposed scheme involves a significant increase in funding for the Russian animation industry, which in recent years has shown active development. Industry experts note that the new support mechanism can be a significant impetus for the creation of domestic animation projects that can compete with foreign counterparts both in the domestic and international markets.^[1]

2023

Growth of the multiplication market by 12% to 20 billion rubles

The Russian animation market for 2023 grew by 12% compared to 2022 and reached 20 billion rubles. This assessment was announced in early March 2024 by the co-founder of Platoshka studio (animated series "Tsvet­nyashki") Anton Andreichikov.

Sources of Kommersant estimated the market volume at 22 billion rubles at the end of 2023. In the Association of Animated Cinema at the end of 2023, he said that the production of animation in Russia over 5 years has approximately tripled and amounted to more than 150 hours a year.

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Фото: Unsplash

Participants interviewed by the newspaper called the factors that restrain the growth of the domestic animation market:

• a decrease in the birth rate;
• reducing the purchasing power of the population;
• the overall deterioration of the economy;
• market saturation and long project release dates;
• high level of piracy and production of counterfeit products.

The newspaper also recalls that most of the transactions for the sale of rights to animation projects to Western TV channels and video services were frozen due to the start of a military special operation of the Russian Federation in Ukraine. After that, animation companies announced problems with foreign software. The Ministry of Culture, in pursuance of the president's instructions, has prepared draft amendments to the legislation, according to which the production and rental of cartoons for children should go to full state financing. However, the document was never adopted by early March 2024.

According to the head of the animation studio "Steam Locomotive" Anton Smetankin, the project implementation period "is four to five years," while the costs of salaries, rent and other costs are growing rapidly in the industry.

Smetankin added that competition in the licensed products market from both local and foreign brands and the availability of alternative goods and services could put pressure on the growth and profitability of animation studios.^[2]

Putin instructed to ensure full state financing of cartoons for children

President RFVladimir Putin instructed to provide state financing for the production of cartoons. This was reported on August 15, 2023 on the Kremlin website.

To ensure the introduction of amendments to the legislation of the Russian Federation, providing for full state financing of the production and rental of animated films for children and youth, - says one of the items in the list of instructions that were given by Putin following a visit to the exhibition "Development of the creative economy in Russia."

Vladimir Putin

It also says that amendments should be made to the Tax Code, providing for the establishment of a corporate income tax rate of 3% for domestic organizations that produce animated audiovisual products.

In addition, the government will have to submit to the president proposals to support companies producing goods for children that use the images of heroes of works of Russian children's literature and cartoons. In particular, we are talking about subsidizing part of the costs of developing the production of such products.

Earlier in 2023, the chairman of the Board of Directors of the Soyuzmultfilm film studio, Yuliana Slashcheva, in a conversation with Rossiyskaya Gazeta, said that the children's cartoon industry was experiencing a new stage of its development, which became possible, among other things, thanks to state support measures developed in a continuous dialogue with industry representatives. According to her, over the past ten years, the number of studios in the country has tripled, and the volume of content produced has also grown in exactly the same proportion. Animation comes into the field of education, entertainment, computer games, becoming a cross-industrial industry that stimulates development in related areas.^[3]

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