Michael Shvydkoi, Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation for International Cultural Cooperation. File photoMOSCOW, Jan 22The new sanctions imposed by the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky against a number of Russian cultural organizations and institutions offend the Ukrainians themselves and belittle the significance of their culture, said Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation for International Cultural Cooperation Mikhail Shvydkoi. seasons» and the National Cultural Heritage Foundation is just one of the episodes of the struggle of the current leadership of Ukraine with Russian culture on Ukrainian territory. From my point of view, these sanctions and the ban on the demonstration of Russian television programs, Russian films, as well as the ban on the Russian press is all offensive, first of all, to Ukrainian culture and the Ukrainian public,» Shvydkoy told RIA Novosti.The Federation Council commented on the US draft sanctions. According to him, such bans and restrictions indicate that the current leadership of Ukraine «profoundly underestimates the outstanding importance of Ukrainian culture and the Ukrainian language» — in his opinion, such restrictions and bans can only be introduced when there are «serious uncertainty» that the national culture of Ukrainians is rich enough to be on a par with other world cultures. «With the same success, it is necessary to prohibit the spread of English, German, French culture in Ukraine. I think that all this is not good, first of all, to the citizens of Ukraine themselves,» Shvydkoy stressed. Shvydkoy also reminded that one should not forget about a significant part of the Ukrainian population, Ukrainian citizens who are ethnic Russians and have the right to use their own language and access to their own culture. Thus, Shvydkoy notes, the existence of sanations violates «all sorts of European laws.» «In this case, unfortunately, I only think that the great Ukrainian culture is put in the position of a weak phenomenon of world artistic life, which can lose to some stronger culture. This is a huge mistake and a serious delusion,» Shvydkoi concluded. There is no need to respond to the new sanctions imposed by Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky against a number of Russian cultural organizations, because Russia is a multinational country in which there is a place for every culture, the special representative of the President of the Russian Federation believes for International Cultural Cooperation Mikhail Shvydkoy.Zelensky imposed sanctions against Russian organizations and individuals «The point is not only that ethnic Ukrainians live in Russia, who should have access to their culture. Russia has a huge market for artists and cultural figures of Ukraine, who, in my opinion, should not hide, because Russian culture is rich and self-sufficient so as not to be afraid of the presence of other cultures in Russia,» Shvydkoy told RIA Novosti. Shvydkoy also recalled that Russia, despite the fact that Russian culture is a «forming element», is still multinational country.» This is Tatar, Bashkir, Chuvash, Avar, Chechen, Yakut cultures … We live in a multinational country, and this is our wealth. I have been telling my Ukrainian colleagues for many years that bilingualism and multilingualism are not a detriment to Ukraine. -Russian, and in Romanian, and in Hungarian, in Yiddish, in Tatar… We must consider multilingualism and the multicultural situation not as a disadvantage or a problem, but as a blessing and amazing wealth,” Shvydkoi believes. He also drew attention to the fact that for five years the Minsk Initiative project has been operating in Ukraine, in which, along with local cultural figures, their colleagues from Belarus and Russia participate. In particular, the last big project took place in the summer in St. Petersburg — it was a joint plein air of artists who painted St. Petersburg bridges. “I hope we will meet there in February – a film about this event will be shown, as well as an exhibition. Terra Poetica, an almanac of young writers from Belarus, Ukraine and Russia, has been published in three languages for many years,” said Shvydkoy.
The head of the East Crimean Museum spoke about the Scythian gold trialNew sanctions imposed by Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky against a number of Russian cultural organizations should not be associated with the situation with Scythian gold, Mikhail Shvydkoi, special representative of the President of the Russian Federation for international cultural cooperation, said. some kind of universal character, from my point of view, is incorrect.In the case of Scythian gold, with the need to return it to the museums of Crimea from the Allard Pearson Museum, this is a specific, very complex legal problem.I would not associate the problem with Scythian gold and the legal conflict of any with our inter-museum or cultural exchanges with the Netherlands, in no way with what is happening today in Ukraine (we are talking about new sanctions — author's note),» Shvydkoi told RIA Novosti, answering a question about the connection between the problem of Scythian gold and sanctions imposed by Ukraine against Russian cultural organizations and institutions. Shvydkoy believes that the sanctions are due to the fact that the Ukrainian authorities «have been building a mono-ethnic culture for many years, not considering citizens who are ethnic Russians as having the right to use their native language.» «This is a long-term practice (building a mono-ethnic culture — ed .), which is primarily to the detriment of the multinational Ukrainian culture. It should not be forgotten that Leonid Kuchma, one of the presidents of Ukraine, wrote an extremely instructive book «Ukraine is not Russia» in Russian. We must not forget this, follow the lead of radical nationalists… But, apparently, this is exactly what the current leadership is doing, and this is a colossal mistake,» Shvydkoi emphasized. Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky imposed sanctions against a number of Russian organizations and institutions. In particular, the project of the Ministry of Culture «Russian Seasons» and the fund «National Cultural Heritage» fell under the distribution. Sanctions impose restrictions such as the annulment or suspension of licenses and permits for cultural programs, scientific cooperation, entertainment programs from foreign states and foreign private individuals.
