People’s Deputy of the Verkhovna Rada Yaroslav Zheleznyak (Sound Party) announced that a bill banning Russian music and books in the country has been passed by the Ukrainian parliament.
Zheleznyak said that 303 out of 450 deputies voted to ban the performance of Russian music in the media and public spaces.
People’s deputies also want to ban the import and distribution of books and printed materials from Russia – a separate bill was supported by 306 parliamentarians. Also, the ban on music and books applies to Belarus, DPR and LPR.
A poll among readers was published on the Telegram channel of the Ukrainian agency UNIAN – how they felt about the bill. 51 percent of more than 20 thousand voters supported the ban with the following statements: “Yes! Finally. How long can you listen to this? Especially in public places.”
35% of readers reacted critically to the initiative of deputies of the Verkhovna Rada: “No. Why these bans? As they say, the taste and color … “. Finally, 14% said they didn’t care.
On June 16, the regional council of Ukraine’s Khmelnitsky district launched a moratorium on listening to music and watching films in Russian, and advertising in Russian was also banned.
Ukrainian music and books in Russia are not banned everywhere. However, excesses happen – for example, at the end of May, in a Belgorod karaoke club, the manager refused to put on a song by the Ukrainian group Okean Elzy “for the occasion”.
Vesti will not be shown to Moldovans
On June 19, Moldovan President Maia Sandu signed a law banning news programs from the Russian Federation in the country. This was announced on the Rlive YouTube channel by Liliana Vicu, head of the Television and Radio Council of the Republic of Moldova.
“The law was signed by the president. It will probably be published in the Official Gazette next Friday and then enter into force. It introduced a definition of “disinformation” and imposed tougher sanctions for it. That is, if the truth is proven, the media can be denied a license for seven years,” he said.
He added that such serious restrictions were imposed in connection with the military operation of the Russian Federation in Ukraine.
After the start of hostilities in Ukraine in February 2022, the Moldovan parliament declared a state of emergency for a period of 60 days. For this period, restrictions were placed on Russian television programs – news and political talk shows. The news site Sputnik Moldova was also blocked. The country’s Prosecutor General’s Office warned that investigations would be launched against many people on suspicion of misrepresentation of events in Ukraine.
The Russian embassy described this decision as biased and political.
EU banned Russia
On 3 June, a press release was published on the Council of Europe’s website announcing that new EU sanctions against the Russian Federation included banning the broadcasting of a number of Russian TV channels in Europe.
Brussels plans to cut off the broadcasting of “Russia-24”, “TV-Center” and “RTR-Planeta” channels in order to “spread disinformation”. At the same time, as EU representatives stated, employees of Russian channels will be able to continue to work in Europe, for example, to conduct interviews and research.
In the Russian Federation, on the basis of the decisions of the Ministry of Justice, a number of foreign media were recognized as foreign agents. These include Voice of America (the organization is included in the list of foreign agents by the Department of Justice) and Radio Liberty (the organization is included in the list of foreign agents by the Department of Justice). German Deutsche Welle’s broadcast in Russia was also stopped (the organization was included in the list of foreign agents by the Ministry of Justice), and the website of the BBC Russian service was blocked. A number of Ukrainian media were also blocked in the Russian Federation by the decision of Roskomnadzor. More than 120 individuals, 46 media outlets, and 76 nonprofits have also received foreign agent status.
Source: Gazeta
Calvin Turley is an author at “Social Bites”. He is a trendsetter who writes about the latest fashion and entertainment news. With a keen eye for style and a deep understanding of the entertainment industry, Calvin provides engaging and informative articles that keep his readers up-to-date on the latest fashion trends and entertainment happenings.