Odesa considers banning Russian in the arts: “It is Russia’s weapon”

Odesa is preparing to decide whether Russian should be banned from the arts, a move that would deepen restrictions already imposed by Ukrainian national law.

The proposal would prohibit Russian-language music and literature in streets, parks, public institutions, and state-run arts and entertainment venues. It would also recommend banning the language in private spaces. Public libraries would remove Russian-language books from their collections. They may currently display them, but not in prominent view.

The measure would affect old Odesa songs known across much of the former Soviet Union. That has made the debate especially charged in a city famous for Russian-language writers and musicians. Everyday use of Russian would not be affected, even though Odesa is largely Russian-speaking. Ukrainian remains the only state language and is spoken by the majority.

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The Russian language is a weapon of Russia and we must try to remedy this.

Odesa lawyer Artem Kartashov, who advised local authorities on a program to “decolonize” the city’s Russian historical heritage, supports the proposal. “The Russian language is a weapon of Russia and we must try to remedy this,” he said. He argued that Russia seeks to undermine Ukrainian identity and influence young people because they grow up in a Russian-speaking environment.

Comic actor Boris Barsky, one of Odesa’s best-known artists, offered the opposing view. “The Russian language is not only Putin’s language, it is the language of writers such as Dostoevsky and Bulgakov,” he said. “Who benefits from turning people who love Ukraine just as deeply against one another, simply because they love it in another language? Only Putin benefits from that.”

The debate comes as Odesa faces daily Russian drone and missile attacks. Russian and Ukrainian are closely related but distinct, and many Ukrainians speak a mixture known as surzhyk. A 2019 law already requires Ukrainian in many public and professional settings, including education, public services and customer relations.

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The Russian language is not only Putin’s language, it is the language of writers such as Dostoevsky and Bulgakov. Who benefits from turning people who love Ukraine just as deeply against one another, simply because they love it in another language? Only Putin benefits from that.