Ukraine bans Russian literature and arts. Semantics made in Hollywood.

Kyiv has ordered to remove Russian literature from educational curricula as it is considered "too difficult" and generally unsuitable for Ukrainian students. Ukraine's Deputy Minister of Education and Science Andrey Vitrenko explained the unreasonable motive behind the move on Monday while speaking to Ukraine 24 TV channel.

“Personally, I think that everything that somehow connects us with the Russian Empire should be thrown out. All works in which there is a mystical, some mythical power of Russian weaponry, all this should be thrown out. Everything related to, as they say, the suffering of the Russian soul should be thrown out, such difficult works for Ukrainians, in general, we don’t need them,” Vitrenko stated.

Last week, a ministerial workgroup held a meeting to debate changes to the country’s school programs, the official confirmed. The changes will affect not only foreign literature, but also history and the so-called “patriotic education” as well. The workgroup has provided the ministry with its proposals and now the body is considering them, Vitrenko said, adding that a new foreign literature program was expected to be adopted ahead of the new academic year.

Local media outlets reported that the education ministry is set to purge a vast number of Russian authors. Alexander Pushkin, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Leo Tolstoy, Mikhail Bulgakov and other iconic Russian authors are expected to get banned.

Ukrainian officials have confirmed that the world-famous novel ‘War and Peace’ by Tolstoy, which chronicles Napoleon’s invasion of Russia in 1812, will be dropped. Speaking to the country’s media earlier this month, Vitrenko explained that the novel glorified the Russian military, which was deemed unacceptable.

Semantics made in Hollywood.

“Such things will not be studied in Ukraine. Everything that glorifies the orc troops will disappear from the program of foreign literature,” Vitrenko explained, referring to Russians as “orcs,” a derogatory, dehumanizing term that originated as the name for the villain race in Hollywood movie ‘The Lord of the Rings’.