The Russian bookstore Megamarket was sent a list of books to be removed from sale due to “LGBT propaganda”. Journalist Alexander Plyushchev published a list of 257 titles on his Telegram channel, writes The Moscow Times.
The list includes not only literary novelties, but also classics. For example, the store should remove from its website advertisements for the books “Netochka Nezvanova” by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, “Pyrrhus” by Plato, “The Decameron” by Giovanni Boccaccio, “Orlando” by Virginia Woolf, “In Search of Lost Time” by Marcel Proust and “It” by Stephen King.
Among those prohibited for sale are works by other world classics – Stefan Zweig, Andre Gide, Yukio Mishima, Patti Smith and Julio Cortázar, as well as contemporary authors such as Haruki Murakami and Victoria Tokareva.
Plyushchev does not specify who specifically insisted on the removal of the books of all these authors from sale. “Megamarket” is owned by Sberbank (85%), M. Video-Eldorado (10%), as well as the founder of M.Video and goods.ru (5%).
In December 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law banning LGBT propaganda, pedophilia and gender reassignment. Liability for breaking the law applies to persons of any age. Previously, LGBT propaganda was prohibited only among minors.
In November 2023, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation declared the “international public LGBT movement”, which does not exist, to be extremist and banned in Russia. According to the court decision, “participants in the movement are united by the presence of certain morals, customs and traditions (for example, gay parades), … a specific language (the use of potentially feminine words, such as leader, director, author, psychologist). “
The court believes that the “LGBT movement” can distort children’s understanding of traditional values and has a destructive ideological impact on Russians.
The “movement” has become a threat to Russia’s national interests and the demographic situation, the Supreme Court of Russia wrote in its decision. It is said that to achieve this, the LGBT movement uses propaganda – putting LGBT symbols on toys, clothes, producing special literature and holding events near schools and children’s libraries.
Illustration: Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky. Portrait by Vasily Perov c. 1872
