Next step: An authority was created to censor books.

An "expert center" has been launched in Putinistan to assess print and electronic book publications "for compliance with the law." It began to work on the basis of the ruZZian Book Union (RKS), the organization told state media.

According to the representative of the union, this center includes representatives of Roskomnadzor (the Z-censorship authority for mass media), the ruZZian Historical Society, the ruZZian Military Historical Society, the ruZZian Orthodox Church, the Spiritual Administration of Muslims, the Federation of Jewish Communities, the Association of Lawyers, the Z-Academy of Education, the Gorky Literary Institute and other institutions and organizations.

The creation of this center was discussed back in January 2023 to determine books subject to withdrawal from sale due to violations of laws, including the law banning LGBT propaganda, one of the interlocutors of Vedomosti noted.

The conclusions of the center are (at the moment) advisory in nature, and the final decision on the fate of the book, in which a violation of the law was found, is made by the publisher, the representative of the ruZZian Communications Union said.

For example, on the recommendation of the "expert center", the AST publishing group hasten to suspend sales in offline retail and on digital platforms in Putinistan of the novels "Legacy" by Vladimir Sorokin, "The House at the End of the World" by Michael Cunningham and "Giovanni's Room" by James Baldwin.

According to the conclusion of the center, these works contained information prohibited for distribution in accordance with Article 6.21. Code of Administrative Offences ("Propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations and (or) preferences, gender reassignment"). What kind of violations were found, the RSS and ACT did not specify.
Prior to that, the state-controlled Mash channel reported on the complaint by "social activists" about "LGBT propaganda" and "propaganda of violence against children" in Sorokin's book.

Just the next day after opening the censor center AST Publishing also stopped selling books by Hanya Yanagihara “A Little Life” and Madeleine Miller “The Song of Achilles,” according to a document signed by the publishing house’s general director. In the authors’ writings, they found signs of “LGBT propaganda and gender reassignment” (Article 6.21 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the ruZZian Fuckeration).

At the end of last year, the AST publishing group suspended the distribution of books by writers Boris Akunin and Dmitry Bykov. Just coincidently, I'm sure, after they admitted to supporting Ukraine in a conversation with pranksters Vovan and Lexus.

Source

@freerussia_report