Ukraine banning import of printed books written in Russian

Ukraine's legislature has passed a law to ban the importation of printed books written in Russian. It will also ban the printing in Ukraine of writing by post-1991 Russians. Both of these restrictions are harmful and wrong.

The most popular or important classic books in Russian may be printed in Ukraine, but a far larger number of important works of literature, science or scholarship will not be available to Ukrainians unless they leave the country. Even if we consider only the works of practical use, such as textbooks and reference books, Ukraine with its smaller population will not have produced comparable replacements in Ukrainian.

The "Culture" minister showed his lack of appreciation of literature by referring to books as "creative product" and "content."

In addition to being wrong, these laws are also strategically foolish. There are millions of Ukrainians whose primary language is Russian. Putin claims that they support his invasion, but most of them don't. Thousands of them, starting with President Zelenskyy, are fighting for Ukraine. Ukraine must treat them as the equal of other Ukrainians,