Ukrainian publishing houses are asking President Volodymyr Zelensky to sign a law banning the import of literature from Russia and Belarus into Ukraine, as well as their distribution on the territory of Ukraine. This law was adopted on June 19.
The corresponding appeal was published on the Facebook page of the "Laboratoriya" publishing house.
"The adopted law allows not only to block the import of publishing products from Russia and Belarus, but also to stop the distribution of books already imported from Russia, to create a reliable barrier in the way of propagandistic anti-Ukrainian literature from any country, as well as the publication and distribution of works by citizens of the aggressor state. At the same time, the latter applies specifically to citizens of the Russian Federation, and not to older works of Russian literature," they noted.
They emphasize that the law does not limit the publication and distribution of books with original works in Russian or any other language in Ukraine. At the same time, translated literature will be published and distributed in translation in the Ukrainian language, or in any of the languages of the EU or indigenous peoples of Ukraine.
"In this way, the Law allows us to use a historic chance for the emergence of a self-sufficient Ukrainian book market independent of Moscow, to create favorable conditions for the development of Ukrainian book publishing and book distribution," the publishing houses emphasize.
This appeal was signed by representatives of the publishing houses "Laboratoriya", "Folio", "Bookstore E", "A-ba-ba-ga-la-ma-ga", "Vivat", "Staryi Lev Publishing House" and Yakaboo.