The French producers initially worked for Russian TV company NTV to expand their program "Sugar of Ryazan" and later to TV-6.

[1][3] Leader of party Liberal Russia, Sergei Yushenkov flew to the premiere on March 5, 2002, in London, to announce that his party was going to distribute copies of the film around Russia to demonstrate "how the secret services deceived Russian citizens".

[1] Russian State Duma Deputy Yuli Rybakov brought a hundred copies to St. Petersburg, but they were confiscated at customs in violation of his parliamentary immunity.

[1] Sergei Yushenkov presented the film at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in 2002, decrying lack of civilian control over the Russian armed forces including the secret services.

[4] A staffer for the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee said, "We just cannot go out and say that the president of Russia is a mass murderer.