What's wrong with Ukraine's sanctions
According to the new restrictions, Belarusian authors, even though they do not promote the Russian world in any way, cannot sell books in Ukraine / Collage by Ulad Rubanau, Euroradio
Belarusians and Ukrainians still don't know much about each other. The ban on the import of Belarusian books into Ukraine, following the ban on Russian books, has contributed to this. This was evidence of another problem: in Ukraine, it is becoming increasingly difficult to separate Belarus from Russia, and the democratic forces from Lukashenka.
Euroradio asked experts how to solve these problems.
Is it not against Belarus?
Ukraine has banned the import of books published in Belarus and written by Belarusians. On June 22, Volodymyr Zelensky signed the law, which was already proposed in June 2022. According to it, Belarusian books cannot be commercially distributed in Ukraine. If the author is a citizen of Belarus after 1991, such publications are also banned. Even if the book is published outside Belarus. It is allowed to bring Belarusian books into Ukraine only for oneself and not more than ten per person.
"It should be understood that this law is aimed at banning the import of books primarily from Russia," emphasizes the director of the Ukrainian Institute of World Politics, Yevhen Magda. "There are enough books in Russian published in Belarus. I think that today, when the borders between our countries are practically closed, it is impossible to import books for the purpose of selling them. I also don't think that Ukrainian border guards will go through suitcases and take out books written in Belarusian from someone's luggage.
Even though the law is rather directed against Russia, it does not eliminate the big problem in the relations between Belarusians and Ukrainians: there is no common information space, the expert continues. That is to say, it's difficult to tell each other how the neighbors live.
"When a law or a decree is passed, it means that the rules apply to everyone. The ban on Russian and Belarusian literature is directly related to this. It is a politically motivated decision. This generalization is becoming a growing trend in Ukrainian politics. For example, when it comes to sanctions, they are taken against both Russian and Belarusian companies. Because they are often closely related.
Now this principle of generalization extends to culture. It means that Ukraine has an internal demand to ban the Russian world. Printed products, mass media, of course, are connected with this.
In such conditions, it's becoming increasingly difficult to separate Belarus from Russia, and Belarusian democratic forces - from Lukashenka's regime in the perception of Ukrainians, " the expert emphasizes.
"All Belarusians who left the country, including representatives of democratic forces, despite their views and beliefs, have fallen under these sanctions, as well as, for example, me. Of course, it is very sad that this problem is not in the center of attention in Ukraine.
