A row has broken out in Russia over a film about the Soviet Union’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, after politicians and former servicemen criticised its unflattering depiction of Red Army soldiers as unpatriotic.
The Soviet Union’s nine-year military campaign in Afghanistan, which resulted in the deaths of about 15,000 Red Army soldiers, ended in 1988 when Mikhail Gorbachev ordered a withdrawal.
Leaving Afghanistan is the latest film dealing with historical issues to cause controversy in Russia.
It tells the story of a group of Red Army soldiers whose departure from Afghanistan is delayed after they are ordered to free a Soviet general’s son taken captive by mujahideen fighters.