James Cemeron’s “Avatar” movie was shot based on the epic of the people of Yakutiya, federal subject of Russia located in the north east of the country. The statement was made by Yakutia’s Minister of Culture Andrey Borisov, Interfax reports.

“Even 20 years ago, I insisted that it was necessary to develop Yakutiyan films, otherwise, the American film industry will start shooting movies based on our epic. Now we see that Cameron’s Avatar was shot based on the epics titled Olonkho,” the Minister said during the meeting with the participants of the UNESCO’s cultural heritage festival.