MOSCOW, October 5 Director of the Department of Culture and tourism of the Kiev Regional Military Administration Anna Kutsenko reported the seizure of more than 400 thousand Russian-language literature and literature written by Russian authors from local libraries. Kutsenko’s words are quoted by the press service on the administration’s Telegram channel.
The press service of the Kiev City Council on July 1, 2022 reported on the developed draft decision, which plans to ban the public use of any Russian-language cultural product in the Ukrainian capital, including books, performances and concerts.
«More than 400 thousand copies of Russian-language books and publications by Russian authors have already been confiscated from the libraries of the Kiev region. The process of retrieving such publications and replenishing the collections of libraries in the region continues,» Kutsenko said.
She emphasized that the process of writing off books is lengthy, since most regional libraries are stocked with Russian-language books. She added that libraries will replace these books with ones translated into Ukrainian.
According to the administration, there are 817 libraries in the Kyiv region, the total fund of which is about 7 million copies.
In Ukraine, during the “derussification of libraries,” 11 million books in Russian have been destroyed since 2022, Yevgenia Kravchuk, deputy head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy, reported in February.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov previously stated that the Ukrainian authorities for many years have pursued a course of aggressive de-Russification and forced assimilation of the Russian-speaking population.