CANNES – Moscow-born director Nikita Mikhalkov on Saturday hit back at critics of his 40-million-dollar war epic Burnt by the Sun 2 and rejected claims that he had abused his position as one of Russia's top filmmakers. Speaking at a press conference marking his film's screening at the Cannes Film Festival, Mikhalkov lashed out at his detractors saying: "I have no concrete interest on other people's lives."

"My detractors can run me down but are not giving me an opportunity to respond," the 64-year-old director said.

Critics have charged him with being too close to the Kremlin and have attacked him over his role as head of the Union of Cinematographers. Three years ago he directed a documentary to mark the 55th birthday of then-president and now Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

Amid the criticism of Mikhalkov, 87 members of the Filmmakers Union signed a letter saying they planned to relinquish their membership of the association. But according to Mikhalkov, of those saying they were renouncing their membership, 30 were not members, 2 lived in other countries and 30 have not paid up their membership dues for 5 to 10 years. The reality, he claimed, was that it came down to just 4 people who were entitled to say they were giving up their membership.

Criticism in Russia of Mikhalkov has increased as a result of the lukewarm box office response to Burnt by the Sun 2, which has already been released in Russia and several other countries. Mikhalkov stars as the hero general in the film who manages to survive both the Russian frontline and Stalin's political penal system.

But Mikhalkov insists that his film is neither pro- nor anti-Stalin. At its heart is a love story between the general and his daughter, who lose contact during the chaos unleashed by Nazi Germany's invasion of Russia. Mikhalkov also had another aim, which was to show the suffering and deprivation that Russian troops were subject to during the war.

Shot over 8 years, Burnt by the Sun 2 is the second in the director's three-part series about the Second World War. Part 2 tells in graphic terms the story of the Russian retreat in the face of Nazi's Germany assault. Originally three hours long, Burnt by the Sun 2 has trimmed to 2 1/2 hours for international audiences. The release of the second instalment came 16 years after the first part, which won him an Oscar.

The movie's budget was a record for the Russian motion-picture industry, with the government in Moscow also helping out with the financing of the film. But Mikhalkov told Saturday's press conference that the government had only contributed 1 million dollars to each of the first two parts. The rest of the funds were raised from private sources, he said.

"It is the cinema critics who should be happy that we have made an enormous art film with an enormous budget. I am delighted to manage to have such an extraordinary budget during these times," he said.

He said that raising money through private sources without the government was how things should operate. "That is how you make the cinema industry," he said.