The book of Mikhail Zygar was banned to import into Russia

The book of journalist Mikhail Zygar "War and Punishment" was banned to be imported into Russia after the examination. About this writes "Medusa".

In December 2023, “War and Punishment” was seized from a 23-year-old girl who crossed the Estonian border with Russia through the Shumilkino checkpoint. The book was sent for examination.

Four months later, according to Medusa, another copy of the “war and punishment” was seized on the same checkpoint from another girl. The customs officers told her that the book is "extremist" and drew up two protocols that she tried to import goods to Russia and did not declare it.

The text of the examination, which was familiarized with Medusa, indicates that the author creates a “negative image of Russia”, and therefore, the book “contains signs of information that can harm the political or economic interests of the member states of the Eurasian Economic Union, their state security, health and morality of citizens”. Experts did not find calls for extremism in the “war and punishment”, but this did not prevent the banner of Zygar to import into Russia.

Zygar himself, in a conversation with Medusa, agreed with experts who indicated: the author of the book believes that "a special military operation in Ukraine does not serve the interests of the people of the Russian Federation." "It is more accurate to formulate: I am absolutely convinced that the invasion of Ukraine does not correspond to the interests of the peoples of the Russian Federation, and my book is very consistent," the journalist said. At the same time, he emphasized that in his book they did not find signs of extremism, therefore, in his opinion, there will be no consequences for readers.

• In Russia, sales of books of some authors have been stopped. In April, AST publishing house reported the suspension of books by Vladimir Sorokin's Heritage, Michael Cunningham "House on the edge of the world" and James Baldwin "The Giovanni Room". The publishing house said that these books contain information about the "propaganda of LGBT" and should be removed from the sale.

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