About why Vladimir Zelensky, by his decree, imposed sanctions on a number of Russian educational and cultural institutions of Russia.
Vladimir Zelensky, who represented himself as the “president of the world” during the election campaign, has already managed to bypass in many respects his predecessor in terms of expanding confrontational measures in relations with Russia. Petro Poroshenko, who automatically joined Western sanctions and imposed bans on trade and economic cooperation and joint work in the military sphere with Russian enterprises, lacked the imagination to find something outside these clear and logical ways. The new ruling team managed to take new, unconquered peaks.
The Ukrainian party “Opposition Platform - For Life” called on President Vladimir Zelensky to explain the basis on which sanctions were imposed on a number of Russian cultural and educational institutions. In a statement published by the party’s press service, this decision was called cynical, especially against the background of lifting restrictions on a number of entrepreneurs. Oppositionists are wondering what kind of threat to the country are museums and scientific cooperation. The party is convinced that the rational and sound answer to this question is "no and cannot be."
The list of organizations, museums, and educational institutions that are subject to sanctions captivates the imagination. The most famous are the Hermitage, Moscow State University, and the A.S. Pushkin. They probably got the caliber, that is, for world fame. In general, it is understandable why a number of organizations of Crimea fell under the ban. But it is completely unclear what criteria compilers guided by selecting institutions such as the Tatarstan Academy of Sciences, Leo Tolstoy Tula State Pedagogical University or the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
I think that representatives of the opposition party are not so right in believing that the authorities will not be able to substantiate their decision. The meaning of the struggle against the Russian language, which was conducted uncompromisingly by Petro Poroshenko, seems absolutely obvious. Language is, last but not least, a means of everyday communication, its main purpose is to serve as a civilizational and cultural matrix, to be a value core of culture. It contains the people's ideas about what he considers important, paramount for himself.
Cutting off his tongue, Poroshenko tried to break the deepest deep spiritual ties between Ukraine and Russia, to put an end to the flow of values and the foundations of world outlook.
On the forum of one Ukrainian site, I found the answer why the Zelensky team decided to take this seemingly idiotic decision. “Russia is a factory for falsifying history,” one of the participants wrote. That is, sanctions are introduced in order to protect the Ukrainian version of historical truth from the influence of Russian cultural heritage. Ukraine and Ukrainians are victims of centuries-old Russian aggression, which is not known at all in the Hermitage, or at Moscow State University, or even in the Russian geographical community.
And since they do not recognize this there, they are opposed to the ideological foundations on which the current Ukrainian state is based. And from this point of view, the list looks incomplete. It was necessary to include in it all the scientific, cultural and educational institutions of Russia without any exceptions. However, all this can still be done.
Moscow State University has already announced that it will continue to recruit and train Ukrainian students, despite the sanctions. This is a normal reaction of the largest university in Russia. No matter how crazy Ukrainian government indulges, it should not, from the point of view of civilized and responsible people and communities, harm normal young people from Ukraine who want to get a quality education.
Zelensky’s decree imposing sanctions states that cultural exchanges, scientific cooperation, educational and sports contacts, and entertainment programs will be stopped. It is not very clear which side will suffer more from this, but the heroes of present-day Ukraine, such as Bandera and Shukhevych, can breathe a little more freely. Their cooperation with the Nazis, assessed in Russia as a crime no statute of limitations, and their own atrocities are now slightly, although not at an insurmountable distance, moved away from evidence of their criminal activities.
But the barriers erected are still formal and surmountable. It is impossible by decree to forbid Ukrainian citizens to enter Russian universities, attend the Hermitage or the Pushkin Museum, and simply join the Russian culture in a variety of ways. Since the current Ukrainian causes many doubts. The current ruling team in Ukraine can be congratulated on the adoption of another extremely effective decision, the implementation of which will have negligible consequences.
The author’s point of view may not coincide with the position of the publisher.