Nina Zabugornova, the former teacher of Pavel Talankin, who directed the Oscar-winning documentary “Mr. Nobody Against Putin,” expressed her regrets about his actions in a recent interview with Russian state television. Talankin, who secretly filmed how a school in Russia justified the war in Ukraine to students, has faced accusations of treason from Zabugornova.
The documentary, co-created by Talankin and David Borenstein, is based on two years of footage captured at a school in the Chelyabinsk region, about 1,500 kilometers southeast of Moscow, where Talankin worked. The film has been banned by Russian authorities and depicts how the educational environment shifted after Moscow deployed troops to Ukraine in 2022. It shows how some teachers defended the war and encouraged patriotism among students through history lessons and newly introduced “patriotic classes.”
Talankin fled Russia in 2024, stating that he felt it was crucial to expose the indoctrination of Russian students. He described the film as a testament for future generations, highlighting how an entire generation has become angry and aggressive.
In her interview on the program Vesti, Zabugornova, who is identified as Talankin’s first teacher from his hometown of Karabaš in Chelyabinsk region, remarked that he was an ordinary child, not particularly different from others. “I wanted to see the documentary, to see what Paška filmed,” she said outside an Orthodox church in Karabaš.
However, she expressed disappointment, stating, “It turned out that Paška decided to turn his back on his homeland. Isn’t that a betrayal? Isn’t that a bad thing?” In March, Russian authorities designated Talankin, who left the country in 2024, as a “foreign agent.”
Zabugornova, who has taught for four decades, took some responsibility for Talankin’s perceived betrayal. “I think that when he was little, as all these things were forming in him, maybe I overlooked something, maybe I failed to provide him with the good lessons he needed,” she reflected on the program Vesti.
