Russia’s Deputy Culture Minister, Zhanna Alekseyeva, has announced the creation of a special restricted storage unit for “destructive” literature. It will be housed at the Vladimir Lenin Russian State Library in Moscow.
In her remarks, the deputy minister mentioned “foreign agents.” According to her, libraries are now putting an emphasis on ensuring that books and other publications from foreign agents who “undermine spiritual and moral values” do not end up in curated selections, such as Russian libraries’ offerings of contemporary fiction.
Alekseyeva’s stated goal is “to prevent destructive and unacceptable content from entering library collections”:
“The Lenin Russian State Library is working on creating a special restricted storage area — a closed repository for literature that was present on our historical territories and was of a destructive nature,” Alekseyeva said at the St. Petersburg International Legal Forum (SPILF).
Alekseyeva described the presence of books by “foreign agents” on library shelves as a “problem” for library staff, saying they need to “maintain a balance between protecting national interests and providing access to knowledge.”
At the end of last year, it emerged that a special restricted repository for “Russophobic” literature — seized from Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine — was being created at the Russian State Library. In a conversation with The Insider, a former high-ranking library official suggested that the main purpose of such a project was embezzlement of funds.
