Exiled from Russia for defending Ukraine, a rising director expected freedom when he fled for the Big Apple – but instead found crippling censorship eerily similar to life under the eye of the Kremlin.
Sasha Molochnikov ventured to New York City to start anew in August 2022 — enrolling at Columbia University and pursuing a master’s in fine arts — after fleeing Russia following its unpopular invasion of Ukraine. But he quickly encountered stifling limitations in free speech that brought back vivid nightmares of Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin’s iron rule.
After building a decade-long career in Russia’s elite theatre circuits – putting on productions at the famed Bolshoi and the Moscow Art Theatre – Molochnikov, 34, posted a Ukrainian flag on his Instagram page as a sign of support for the war-torn country.
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