The libraries of St. Petersburg refuse to issue Akunin’s books

Large libraries of St. Petersburg stopped publishing books by Boris Akunin. “Vazhnye istorii” wrote about this on Thursday with reference to one of the readers who told the publication that they refused to give her Akunin’s books in the Russian National Library (RNB) and the Lermontov Central Library.

The reader asked to find several books from the “History of the Russian State” series. The National Security Service told her that everything authored by Boris Akunin is not available to readers. In Lermontovka, they refused, referring to the fact that this series was “removed from the libraries”.

The “Important Histories” journalist later called the National Security Service under the guise of a reader and asked about Akunin’s books. An employee of the library reported that his works stopped being published after the writer was declared an extremist. Most of Akunin’s works are marked “unavailable” in the online catalog of the National Security Service of Ukraine.

Recognition of the author as an extremist does not automatically lead to a ban on the distribution of his works. For this, they must be included in the list of extremist materials. Akunin’s books are not included in this register, “Important Histories” note.

• Since 2014, Boris Akunin has been living in London. He repeatedly criticized the policy of Russian President Vladimir Putin, condemned the annexation of Crimea and Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
• Rosfinmonitoring added Boris Akunin to the register of “terrorists and extremists” in December 2023. At the same time, it became known that the Investigative Committee initiated a criminal case against the writer under the articles on the public justification of terrorism and the so-called fakes about the army. In January 2024, Akunin was recognized as a “foreign agent”.
• After the initiation of a criminal case against Akunin, searches were conducted at the Zakharov publishing house, which publishes the writer’s books. The AST publishing house and the chain of stores “Chitai-gorod – Bukvoed” have suspended the distribution of his works. Boris Akunin’s name was removed from the posters of performances based on his plays. Some theaters also canceled their shows.