The writer of the original Metro 2033 novel, upon which the award-winning series of survival first-person shooters is based on, is now on Russia's most wanted list.
metro 2033 redux
According to a report by Kotaku, Metro series author Dmitry Glukhovsky has confirmed he is now on the country's wanted list after he condemned the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. Glukhovsky is a Russian national (obviously), though he's not living in the country as of the moment.
Glukhovsky made the announcement in a post on Telegram, dated June 7th. Radio Free Europe translated the post as saying that Glukhovsky has now been added to the federal wanted list of Russia's Interior Ministry. He joins Vladimir Milov, who is an associate of the jailed Russian opposition politician Aleksei Navalny - the arrest of whom he also actually protested against back in 2021.
As per the RFE, an arrest will mean that Glukhovsky will serve a lengthy prison time for "distributing deliberately false information" about the Russian military's operations. The prison sentence can be up to 10 years for convicted individuals, and anybody proven guilty of "spreading false information" about the army which can lead to "serious consequences" can net a 15-year prison sentence.
The author of Metro 2033 says that he is being charged with allegedly "discrediting" the actions of the Russian government. But despite being a marked man, he added that he will continue protesting the armed conflict in Ukraine.
The charge of false information distribution was apparently levied against the Metro 2033 writer after he posted a video on Instagram on March 12, reports PCGamer. The video, which has earned 13,246 likes at the time of this writing, seems to feature a Russian tank driving down a road and blasting a hole into what looks like an apartment building and another building using its main gun.
Glukhovsky's post contained the words, "Stop the war! Recognize that this is a real war against an entire nation and stop it!" He reposted the same message on Telegram.
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The Metro 2033 Writer's Connection To The Ukraine Conflict At A Glance
It might seem that Glukhovsky's opposition to the military conflict in Ukraine is just born of his own desire, but his connection to it is far more personal than one may think.
As previously mentioned, his original novel Metro 2033 was eventually turned into a series of survival FPS games. The Metro video game franchise was developed by Ukrainian game studio 4A Games, who as you know hails from the currently war-torn country.
metro 2033 redux
But even if the studio itself has relocated to Malta, they still have roots there - and they're among the dozens of other developers calling for an end to the fighting. They actually still maintain a studio in the capital city of Kyiv, which is one of the hardest-hit in the country. Their relocation to Malta was actually a result of Russia's prior incursion into the Ukrainian province of Crimea back in 2014 (via Polygon).
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