The Ministry of Culture and Information Policy consistently opposes any cultural dialogue with the aggressor. From the very beginning of the large-scale aggression, until the moment of the withdrawal of troops, we emphasize the importance of ending cooperation with all state Russian institutions in the sphere of culture and media, as well as with those representatives of the Russian Federation abroad who openly support the war started by the Putin regime and who do not consider it is necessary to express a clear position of condemnation, keeping silent about the war in Ukraine.
In addition, we urge to refrain from cooperating in any projects with those cultural figures who, in violation of Ukrainian law, crossed the borders of the temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories – Luhansk or Donetsk regions and Crimea.
During the war, no russian-Ukrainian reconciliation through culture is possible. Under no circumstances. Any statements about “fraternal peoples” and common culture are only manipulative, which we at the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy strongly urge to perceive as degrading the subjectivity of the Ukrainian people and its own cultural heritage.
The kremlin uses culture as a propaganda tool, following the example of the Nazis. Attempts now, during the active hostilities on our land, to give the floor to the representatives of the aggressor and Ukraine on the same platforms – is an attempt to level the horrors of war, legitimizing russian propaganda narratives about Ukraine. The participation of Ukrainian artists in joint projects with russians under the slogan “we are for peace” is an attempt to manipulate the real causes of the war in Ukraine unleashed by the putin regime. We emphasize that the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine does not support such formats of events. At the same time, we appeal to Ukrainian artists abroad to be the voice of their own Ukrainian culture on world stages and discussion platforms.
At the same time, we would like to emphasize that we do not call on for the isolation of those representatives of russian cultural community, who share democratic values and condemn the war in Ukraine publicly, call a spade a spade and point out that political responsibility for the aggression in Ukraine lies with the russian federation, because Ukraine is a tolerant European country based on democratic values.
Nevertheless, we don’t see it possible and appropriate for representatives of Ukrainian culture to cooperate or interact in any other way with them in the public sphere. Because it is impossible to allow to shift the focus from reality – from the hard struggle which Ukrainians have been waging for their independence and identity for many years, and from the crimes that russia is currently committing against Ukrainians.
