Film director Mikhalkov put on list of people threatening Ukraine's security
KYIV. Jan 16 (Interfax) - At the request of the Ukrainian Security Service, the Ukrainian Culture Ministry has expanded the list of individuals who threaten the country's national security; Russian film director Nikita Mikhalkov is one of those who have been added to the list.
"Acting within the bounds of its competence [...] and in accordance with the request filed by the Ukrainian Security Service on January 4, 2018, I order that the list of persons who threaten national security be updated by including Dmitry Anatolyevich Fomin, Dmitry Andreyevich Shepelev, Vasily Mikhailovich Vakulenko, and Nikita Sergeyevich Mikhalkov," Culture Minister Yevhen Nishchuk said in an order posted on the ministry's website.
Mikhalkov is a Russian film director, scriptwriter, and producer. He became a People's Artist of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic in 1984. Shepelev is a Belarusian, Ukrainian, and Russian television and radio anchor. Fomin (aka Mitya Fomin) is a Russian singer, songwriter, and producer. Vakulenko (aka Basta and Noggano) is a Russian rapper.
The State Committee for Television and Radio Broadcasting of Ukraine prohibited the distribution of 25 books published in Russia in 2015-2017 on the basis of the negative opinion of the expert council analyzing and assessing printed products.
Ukraine published the list of prohibited books on January 10. The list includes Stalingrad by Antony Beevor, two books from the History of the Russian State series by Boris Akunin, Lenin's Daughter - A Glance at History by Edvard Radzinsky, To My Matilda: Nicholas II's Love Letters and Diaries by Boris Sokolov, Orthodoxy: Honest Talk by archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, and other books published in Russia, among them children's books and textbooks.