Culture ministry denies rumours of Ukraine blacklist

6 August 2014

Text Nadia Beard

Russian culture minister Vladimir Medinsky has put paid to rumours circulating on the Russian media that his department was preparing a blacklist of Ukrainian cultural figures in response to a similar move by Kiev.

Medinsky told RIA Novosti: “I read about all this in the media. We’ve got everything right in the head. We don’t plan on creating any kind of blacklist. I hope that Ukraine hasn’t gone mad enough to carry out this ridiculous idea.”

Yelena Drapeko, deputy chairwoman of the Ministry of Culture, said the ministry does “not support the breaking of any cultural bridges” between the two countries and would not retaliate against Ukraine’s plans to ban around 500 Russian cultural figures from visiting Ukraine.

Yesterday, Anton Gerashchenko, advisor to the head of Ukraine’s Ministry of Internal Affairs, announced on his Facebook page the ministry’s plans to blacklist Russian cultural figures who supported the annexation of Crimea. He wrote: “I consider it right to disallow [those who supported the annexation of Crimea] from earning money … in Ukraine — let them perform in Crimea in front of seagulls on an empty beach.”

A proposal to create a similar blacklist was put forward by Roman Khudyakov, deputy of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, but quickly dismissed by the Russian Ministry of Culture. “No kind of blacklist from our side will be introduced. This is nonsense, because Ukraine is depriving itself of a large reservoir of culture,” Drapeko said. “For us, what they’re doing is a populist measure that won’t lead to anything good. Russian cultural figures need to visit Ukraine, and moreover, need to invite their Ukrainian colleagues to Russia.”