A law will prohibit the printing of books by Russian citizens, unless they renounce their Russian passport and obtain Ukrainian citizenship. The ban will apply only to those who had Russian citizenship after the collapse of Soviet rule in 1991. It will also ban the commercial import of books printed in Russia, Belarus and the occupied Ukrainian territory, and will also require a special permit for the import of books into Russian from any other country. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Another law will ban Russian citizens from playing music in the media and public media after 1991, and will also increase quotas for speaking Ukrainian and music on television and radio. The laws must be signed by President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to take effect, and there is no indication otherwise. Both received widespread support throughout the House, including lawmakers traditionally seen as pro-Kremlin by the Ukrainian media and civil society. Ukrainian Culture Minister Oleksandr Tkachenko said he was “pleased to welcome” the new restrictions. “The laws are designed to help Ukrainian writers share quality content with the widest possible audience, which after the Russian invasion does not accept any Russian creative product on a physical level,” the Ukrainian cabinet said in a statement.
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The new rules are the latest chapter in Ukraine’s long process of rejecting Moscow’s legacy of hundreds of years of rule. Ukraine says this process, formerly referred to as “de-communalization” but now more commonly referred to as “de-communalization”, is necessary to undo centuries of policies aimed at crushing Ukrainian identity. Moscow disagrees, saying that Kiev’s policies to consolidate the Ukrainian language in everyday life are suppressing the large number of Russian-speaking people in Ukraine, whose rights it claims it supports in what it calls a “special military operation.” This process gained momentum after Russia’s invasion of Crimea in 2014 and the support of separatist proxies in Donbass, Ukraine, but took on new dimensions after the full invasion began on 24 February. Hundreds of sites in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, have already been renamed to sever ties with Russia, and a Soviet-era monument to the friendship between the Ukrainian and Russian peoples was demolished in April, prompting widespread applause. read more Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Report by Max Hunder Editing by Nick Zieminski Our role models: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
