Russia is creating a humanitarian and cultural catastrophe throughout Ukraine by destroying its cultural treasures, according to Vladislav Berkovsky.
- I have been in contact with many acquaintances in the war-torn areas.
They say that there is a complete looting of the museums and an extinction of the theaters.
It goes against all international conventions on the preservation of cultural heritage, he says.
Earlier this week, a museum was bombed in the village of Ivankovo, just outside Kyiv.
A town hall from the Stalin era was also bombed in Kharkiv.
If you had a little more time, you would have had time to evacuate museums, art galleries, archives and theaters, says Vladislav Berkovsky.
Now the culture remains in occupied territory.
- There is a total annihilation of Ukrainian cultural heritage and I often hear from the Russian side that Ukrainian culture does not exist.
Only Russian culture may exist on this land, he says.
Stop cooperation with Russia
Last week, Ukraine's Minister of Culture turned to the world of culture and appealed to everyone to create a culture bloc against Russia.
To suspend all cultural collaborations, screenings of Russian films and stop the broadcasting of Russian television channels.
- Russia must be excluded from all international cultural organizations.
We hope that Sweden supports our bill to exclude Russia from Unesco because they destroy Ukraine's cultural heritage, says Vladislav Berkovsky.
He believes it could be something that contributes to Russia being able to end the war and withdraw its forces.
-We do not set high standards.
The only thing we want them to do is leave Ukraine.