Ukraine Moves to Ban Russian Music, Literature

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The Ukrainian parliament voted on Sunday to ban Russian music and the sale of Russian books, a move that Russia has previously described as forced assimilation of Ukraine's Russian-speaking minority.

Ukrainian lawmaker Yaroslav Zhelezniak said on social media that the ban on music made by Russian artists would apply in public spaces and media. Books and other publications by Russian and Belarusian authors will be prohibited from import and distribution.

Oleksiy Honcharenko, another Ukrainian legislator, said that the new legislation also bans tours of musicians with Russian citizenship, except for those publicly denouncing the Russian special operation in Ukraine.

Honcharenko said that the parliament had also voted to tear up an agreement on scientific and technical cooperation with Russia as well as a pact that guaranteed support for small enterprises within the community of ex-Soviet states.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has accused Ukraine of a history of oppressing linguistic and ethnic minorities. Russia, Hungary, Poland and Romania have all criticized Ukraine in the past for restricting teaching in languages of ethnic minorities.