Ukraine bans import of books from Russia and Belarus

The President of Ukraine has signed a law banning the import of books from Russia, Belarus and the occupied Ukrainian territories. The law was adopted by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine last year.

The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, signed a law adopted by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine banning the import of books from Russia, Belarus and the occupied territories of Ukraine last year. Zelenski said in a predawn message on Telegram that the text of the law had been sent to the European Union institutions for further evaluation to see whether certain provisions of the law could affect the linguistic rights of minorities.

The Kyiv Independent recalled that the specific law was adopted by the Ukrainian Parliament in June 2022. A number of Ukrainian cultural figures asked Zelensky to sign the law, arguing that the legislation would support domestic book publishing and the liberation of information space from Russian influence. A petition was also launched in May 2023 calling for the swift adoption of the law.

Volodymyr Zelensky initially responded to this petition by mentioning that, in the opinion of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, the draft law may violate some articles of the Constitution of Ukraine. Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs warned that the draft was not in line with EU standards on human rights. Both ministries asked Mr Zelenski to veto the draft law.