(NEW YORK) — In yet another blow to free expression in Russia, the media watchdog Roscomnadzor announced the addition of three independent publishing projects and two small resellers to its list of prohibited websites late on Friday—a tactic often employed to minimize media attention. They were accused of publishing content containing “fake information” about Russia’s war in Ukraine, “LGBT propaganda,” and material intended to discredit Russian government bodies and Armed Forces.
“This latest crackdown on free speech is a blatant act of desperation by Putin’s government, revealing the regime’s growing anxiety as it struggles to control the narrative while its propaganda increasingly fails to resonate with the Russian public,” said Liesl Gerntholtz, managing director of the PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Center at PEN America.
Speaking with PEN America, Freedom Letters publisher Georgy Urushadze said, “The regime is looking increasingly ridiculous and weak, throwing tons of money to support pro-government writers who no one reads. Meanwhile, Sorokin and Bykov continue to write great books, which people in Russia continue to read in secret. Banning books has never worked over the long term. Dictatorships die in the glow of bonfires where they burn great books. This regime won’t last.”
In addition to Roscomnadzor’s instructions to the publishing house, Freedom Letter is subject to regular instructions from the General Prosecutor’s Office to remove specific books. These requests included the following: Vladimir Sorokin’s novel Heritage, Sergey Davydov’s queer novel Springfield, a collection of articles about remote regions of Russia called Wilderness, a collection of political prisoners’ court speeches Not The Least Words, and Ivan Philippov’s novel Mouse. Freedom Letters, BAbook, Goodreads, Ruslania, and Book Amaro were the publishers and resellers.
“The removal of these books from the publishers’ websites spotlights what the Russian government fears most: political prisoners, the LGBTQ+ community, citizens from remote regions, and even fiction novels. That Ivan Philippov’s novel Mouse, about a zombie apocalypse, is now banned because it could potentially ‘create interference with the functioning of life support facilities, transport or social infrastructure, credit institutions, energy, industrial, or communications facilities’ underscores the censorship agency’s complete detachment from reality,” Gerntholtz added.
In PEN America’s 2023 Freedom to Write Index, Russia was ranked the world’s sixth-largest jailer of writers, tied with Belarus. 2023 marked Russia’s first appearance in the Index’s top ten, highlighting the significant impact of war and conflict on free expression. Notably, eleven out of the sixteen writers imprisoned in Russia were targeted for their anti-war statements. PEN America’s Russian Independent Media Archive (RIMA) – a project developed in partnership with Bard College – aims to counter the suppression by creating a searchable database preserving more than two decades of work by independent Russian reporters and editors. The entire archive is available in English and can be a tool for those covering Russia or wanting to better understand the historical context from the perspective of independent media.
PEN America urges the international community to support Russia’s independent publishers, writers, journalists, artists, and others whose work inspires, sustains, and mobilizes citizens by encouraging critical thinking and enabling people to envision a future rooted in fundamental human rights.