Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) called out HBO for its casting of Miloš Biković in Season 3 of hit TV show "The White Lotus," assailing the Serbian actor as being a mouthpiece for Russian President Vladimir Putin and a supporter of genocide.
The MFA took exception with HBO's choice of Biković, who received a Pushkin medal from Putin in 2018, in a social media post and accompanying 79-second video.
"@HBO, is it all right for you to work with a person who supports genocide & violates international law?" it said in the post.
In the video, the MFA highlights Biković's Russia citizenship, his support of Russia's occupation of Crimea, and his work with Russian propagandist filmmaker Nikita Mikhalkov.
"Russia is moving [on] its own path and the world sees it as a hostile action," the video quotes Biković from an interview with Russian media in 2020.
"I think it is the first time Russia has not taken Europe as a source of wisdom. This so-called civilized [Western] world, that bombed my country [i.e. Serbia], has no democracy and no human values," Biković said in the same interview.
Biković was granted Russian citizenship in 2021, saying he felt an affinity with the culture of the country.
"I have inherited Russian values and they resonate with mine," he once said.
He said in an interview in 2019 that he had been banned from entering Ukraine.
Biković was announced as part of the Season 3 cast earlier this month. Deadline reports Biković will play a "Russian-speaking wellness guru at the hotel." Filming begins next month in Thailand.
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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