Embassy of the Russian Federation comment on an Opinion piece in the “Guardian”

The Embassy took note of an Opinion piece in the Guardian by the Ukrainian Minister for Culture and Information Policy Aleksandr Tkachenko falsely claiming that “Russia is trying to destroy Ukraine’s culture and memory”.

It is regretful to see a prominent newspaper publish such a blatantly dishonest piece. Unfortunately, ignoring and obfuscating facts, turning a blind eye to the Kiev regime’s atrocities while misleading the audience about Russia seems to have become the new norm for some newspapers.

We would therefore like to remind the Guardian and its readers that in reality the picture is markedly different. It is the Kiev regime that has legally banned the Russian language across Ukraine; it is the Kiev regime that has been deliberately shelling and terrorising the peaceful population of Donbass since 2014; it is the Kiev regime that is carrying out searches, arrests and interrogations among the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Moscow Patriarchate. The list of Ukrainian government’s offences against fundamental human rights and freedoms is extensive and well-documented.

Mr Tkachenko openly calls for boycotting Russian culture, thus openly flaunting the generally accepted principle that culture – including world renowned composers and their masterpieces – should remain beyond politics. As stated on numerous occasions, Russia does not have a problem with the Ukrainian people at all. We have a problem with the Russophobic, ultranationalist and revisionist ideology espoused by the government in Kiev that habitually tramples on the rights and freedoms of non-Ukrainian nationalities and national minorities, Russians in particular, while imitating a European democracy and theatrically swearing allegiance to the West and NATO. The pitiful attempts to “cancel” Russian culture, which Ukraine itself was part and parcel of for centuries long, are yet another dangerous warning sign of the erroneous and dangerous path taken by Kiev. 

It is up to the British public to make up its mind about following blindly in Kiev’s footsteps. However, Russia will not sit idly by and watch Russians and Russian-speaking population of Ukraine suffer, be discriminated against and exterminated simply because of their connections to and affection for Russia. We will continue to stand up for our national interests, our culture and our national identity. It is high time for the United Kingdom to realise this.