Ukraine’s Parliament has banned music by artists with Russian citizenship from being aired in public in light of the country’s special military operation in Ukraine, Belga News Agency reported.
A measure to that effect was passed by a two-thirds majority in the upper house on Sunday, lawmaker Yaroslav Zhelezniak stated on Telegram. The bill states that the “musical product of the aggressor state [could] influence separatist sentiment in the population.”
The text also read that Russian music would make the adoption of a Russian identity more attractive while weakening the Ukrainian state.
Exemptions to the legislation apply only to artists who have publicly condemned the Russian special military operation in Ukraine, it added. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) will draw up a special list of exemptions.
In parallel, the import and distribution of books and other printed products from Russia, Belarus have been banned. Books from Russia had already been subject to censorship since 2016.
