Kathrine Frich
These edits are part of a wider trend across Russian media.
Sitting down to watch an old sitcom is supposed to be an easy escape from daily stress.
Viewers tune in for familiar jokes and harmless family drama they have seen a dozen times before.
Lately, though, even classic reruns are getting a quiet makeover behind the scenes.
Quietly cutting jokes
Russia’s STS television network has edited out several scenes from the popular family comedy Voroniny, according to the independent outlet Meduza.
Censors removed lines that mention President Vladimir Putin, use the word “Banderites,” or even compare a domestic squabble to a war.
One cut hit the twelfth episode of season 12, which is set on New Year’s Eve in 1999 just after President Boris Yeltsin stepped down. In the missing footage, the character Lenya guesses who will take over the country next.
“Did you hear Yeltsin left? Who do you think the new one will be? Right now, of course, it’s temporary Putin. But I think they’ll push him out quickly. Either Primakov or Chernomyrdin. And I would have appointed Kiriyenko; he promised us a raise before they removed him,” Lenya says in the cut clip, as reported by Verstka.
Even lunch goes
Another edit targeted season 14’s third episode, where Lenya’s brother Kostya jokes about an argument with his wife Vera. Verstka noted that the cut line has no political meaning and nothing to do with the fighting in Ukraine.
Still, the network removed Kostya’s joke from the broadcast. “Oh, I forgot, we’re at war! Well, OK, war is war, but lunch, as they say, is on schedule,” the character says in the original scene.
Editors also scrubbed a bit from the tenth episode of season 11 where the father, Nikolai Voronin, tells off his sons Kostya and Lenya by calling them “Banderites.” Earlier, STS had already deleted a separate moment from the sitcom where relatives mistakenly believe Lenya is gay, according to Verstka.
Scrubbing the screen
These edits are part of a wider trend across Russian media. According to Verstka, TV channels, streaming platforms, book publishers, and even musicians routinely trim their own work to avoid breaking strict national laws.
Since Moscow banned what it calls LGBTQ+ “propaganda” and labelled a nonexistent “international LGBT movement” as extremist, broadcasters have regularly cut queer characters and jokes from movies and shows.
Now, old punchlines about politics and family fights are disappearing right alongside them.
