Duma deputies call for “anti-Russian” cultural figures be taken off air

Two Duma deputies have sent a letter to the managers of Russian state TV and radio stations appealing to station chiefs to take any Ukrainian cultural figures who are “anti-Russian” off air. The tit-for-tat move came just days after Ukraine’s Ministry of Culture decided to ban 14 “anti-Ukrainian” Russians from entering the country due to their support for the annexation of Crimea.

In their letter, Sergei Obukhov and Valery Rashkin, members of Russia’s Communist Party, suggest that any programmes from artists openly supporting military operations of the Ukrainian army in the south-east of Ukraine, as well as those who publicly voice anti-Russian sentiments, should be prevented from broadcasting.

“Our eternal Russian kindness sometimes takes on very strange forms,” the letter reads. “We treat the Ukrainian soldiers who cross our border to flee their country with compassion, then we go and give the Russophobic authorities in Kiev the same discount on gas as we did to the loyal Yanukovych. We are not adequately responding to the constant insults directed against us, not only from Ukrainian politicians but also from third rate singers… It is time to start respecting ourselves and close down this anti-Russian clique.”

According to the deputies, Russia, in contrast to Ukraine, cannot prevent “anti-Russian” cultural figures from entering the country, however they noted that heads of major television stations should be given the power to stop “anti-Russian” artists from making money “from a country that they hate”.

They added that it is not only Ukrainians who could be taken off air, but also Russian citizens “who deliberately engage in the promotion of anti-Russian ideas”, referencing vocal anti-Kremlin guitarist Andrei Makarevich. Makarevich has suffered a string of unexpected performance cancellations, considered by many to be part of a campaign by the authorities to disrupt his career.

However, there has been some opposition to the bill. United Russia politician Yevgeny Fyodorov told Izvestia that it is wrong to put pressure on the leadership of Russian companies.

“I think it’s a private matter for the editors. The media needs to pursue a balanced course of national orienteering,” Fyodorov said.

In other news, two politicians from the ruling United Russia party submitted a draft bill yesterday which seeks to prevent foreigners from entering Russia if they are deemed to have “offended” either the state or its citizens, a move some have slammed as another measure to give the Kremlin more power to keep out its critics.