This was confirmed by the Ukrainian Book Institute, which has already sent a letter to Juergen Boos, the director of the Frankfurt Book Fair, explaining the danger of increasing Russian publishers’ presence at such an influential international event.
However, the head of the Institute, Oleksandra Koval, stated that there will be no official Russian Federation book stand at Frankfurt: “The organizers of this and several other fairs are adhering to their decision to prohibit the participation of an official state stand from Russia. But individual stands from Russian publishers are present everywhere. Last year at the Frankfurt Book Fair, there were three Russian stands, including one for ‘Memorial,’ and it didn’t seem to pose a threat. This year, there are already five, including a stand for Russia’s largest publishing house, ‘Eksmo,’ which is notorious for publishing anti-Ukrainian content, leading to it being sanctioned in Ukraine for several years.”
This was also highlighted by Ukrainian publisher Viktor Kruglov, whose publishing house is also participating in the fair at the national stand of the Ukrainian Book Institute: “Thomas Haldenwang, the president of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, pointed out the ‘influence operations’ of Russian intelligence services, which spread Russian disinformation and propaganda in Germany. It is surprising, after this, to see a stand from the aggressor country where it will be said that ‘things are not so clear-cut.’”
Tags: propaganda Ukraine
