Lyudmila Narusova came out in defense of artists with an anti-war stance
A member of the Federation Council, Lyudmila Narusova, at a meeting of the upper house of the Russian parliament on Wednesday, spoke out against the persecution of cultural figures who criticize Russia’s war in Ukraine. She called unconstitutional bans on performances with the participation of artists who are opponents of the war, and other repressive measures. Narusova asked the chairman of the Soviet Fed, Valentina Matviyenko, to get an explanation from the Ministry of Culture of Russia.
Lyudmila Narusova considers unacceptable cases of artists who, according to her, are “kicked out of theaters” for expressing their opinion. As an example, she cited the actual dismissal of People’s Artist of Russia Liya Akhedzhakova from the Moscow theater “Sovremennyk”.
Narusova reminded that President Vladimir Putin, in a message to the Federal Assembly on Tuesday, promised not to engage in a “witch hunt” and not “to settle accounts on the topic of who took a step aside.” The senator emphasized that the Constitution guarantees Russians the right to freely express their opinion, “even if it differs from the generally accepted one.”
According to Narusova, the State Duma now receives many proposals to legalize various punishments for those citizens who left Russia after the start of the war. “This is deprivation of property, deprivation of citizenship, and other repressive measures that contradict the Constitution of the Russian Federation,” the politician said.
In response to Narusova’s words, the Vice-Chairman of the Soviet Fed, Andrey Turchak, said that “they are punishing for betrayal, not for behavior.” To this, Narusova replied that treason is an article of the Criminal Code, and the punishment must have reasons, and not come from emotional reactions.
At the same meeting of the Soviet Fed, the chairwoman of the committee on science, education and culture, Lilia Gumerova, said that the committee will never support cultural and scientific figures who “insult the country and the army.” She noted that the committee monitors the situation with harassment of public figures and that those “are punished for insults”.
- After the start of the military invasion of Ukraine, cultural figures expressing an anti-war position are regularly persecuted in Russia. Concerts and performances with their participation are canceled or postponed indefinitely. Mass media publish lists of artists and collectives whose performances are secretly considered undesirable, provided by sources. Some artists are included in the list of foreign agents by the Ministry of Justice of Russia. Many left the country.
