Ukraine Draws 19 Million Russian Language Books And Soviet Eras From The Library

Book illustration in the library. (Unsplash/Eliabe Costa)

JAKARTA - Ukraine withdrew about 19 million copies of books from its libraries last November dating back to the Soviet or Russian-speaking era, a senior lawmaker said on Monday.

Yevheniya Kravchuk, deputy head of Ukraine's Parliamentary committee for Humanitarian Policy and Information, said of the 19 million books, 11 of them were Russian.

"Several Ukrainian language books from the Soviet era have also been abolished," Kravchuk said in a statement published on the website of Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's Parliament.

"There are also recommendations to remove and get rid of books that the authors support armed aggression against Ukraine."

It was not immediately clear what happened to the books being withdrawn.

Earlier, after Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula in Ukraine in 2014, Kyiv further restricted the use of Russian books. This process, called "de-russification", accelerated when Russia invaded the country nearly a year ago.

In mid-2022, Ukraine restricted the distribution of Russian books, seeking to further cut cultural ties between the two neighboring countries, scrapping policies that the Kyiv Government says have suppressed Ukrainian identities for centuries.

"In general, the ratio of books in Russian and Ukrainian in our library is very unfortunate," explained Kravchuk.

"So now we are talking about facts, need to update funds and buy books in Ukrainian as soon as possible," he said.

He added that about 44 percent of books in Ukrainian libraries speak Russian, the rest speak Ukrainian or European Union language.

Ukrainian is the only official language in the country. About half of the population spoke mostly or only Ukrainian and about 30 percent spoke mostly or only Russian, according to a 2019 survey by the Kyiv Institute of International Sociology.

It is known that Russian and Ukrainian are Eastern Slavia, but although most Ukrainians speak Russian, Russians who are unfamiliar with Ukrainian have difficulty understanding it.

Russian is still playing a major role in business, culture and media. Russian is still widely used in many cities, including Kyiv, although Russian use is increasingly restricted. The law requires businesses and other institutions to use Ukrainian.