“Go back to waste paper.” What is known about the “black lists” of authors in Moscow libraries and who entered them

From the beginning of December, information began to appear in telegram channels and the media that books by authors who were entered in the register of “foreign agents” and who opposed the military operation in Ukraine were removed from Moscow libraries. This also applies to books where there are references to LGBT characters. Neither Moscow authorities nor the Ministry of Culture confirmed the information that there are lists of books suppressed for political reasons, but this is confirmed by library staff.
On February 18, Anastasia Burlakova, a resident of Moscow, wrote a post on Facebook* in which she said that she had tried to bring books to one of the capital’s libraries. According to the girl, she was shown “a list of authors who are retired, or the funds cannot be replenished with their books.”
In total, there are 29 names on the list, the photo of which was published by Burlakova. Among them are writers listed by the Ministry of Justice of Russia in the register of “foreign agents” – Dmitry Bykov **, Viktor Shenderovich **, Mikhail Zygar **, as well as those who spoke out against the operation of Russian war in Ukraine – for example, Boris Akunin, Ivan Vyrypaev, Lyudmila Ulitskaya and others. The list also included writer Vladimir Voinovich, who died in 2018. Voinovich is the author of the satirical dystopian novel Moscow 2042 and the satirical trilogy about Private Chonkin. The list also includes foreign authors – Joe Abercrombie, JK Rowling, Neil Gaiman, Stephen King, Linwood Barkley, Adam Pshehshta. All these authors banned the publication of their books in Russia after the start of the military operation in Ukraine.
Journalist and writer Sergei Lebedenko said that such a list was distributed in a library in the southwestern district of Moscow.
This is not the first list of banned books that has recently appeared on the Internet. In mid-December, the same Lebedenko published a list of books to be delisted as a new law bans “LGBT propaganda” comes into force. According to Lebedenko, the list was sent on December 16, with a total of 52 books. The need for radiation is indicated there as “other”. Among the authors whose books are to be removed from the shelves are: John Boyne, Oksana Vasyakina, Jean Genet, Jaume Cabré, Michael Cunningham, Agota Christophe, Eduard Limonov, Colum McCann, Haruki Murakami, Stephen Fry, Stephen Chbosky and others.
Lebedenko noted that “no one will simply hide the stored books”, their issuance “is blocked by an electronic system, that is, it will not be possible to issue them officially.” “Books must be turned in for waste paper – that is, ultimately, to be burned. The final decision (no pun intended) seems to be made by library managers, but they will be held to provide a law on the delivery of books to waste paper in all cases,” he wrote.
Shortly before Lebedenko’s publication, The Village wrote that books by authors who have been given “foreign agent” status or criticize Russia’s actions in Ukraine, as well as works where authorities can see “LGBT propaganda” are hidden in Moscow libraries. The publication cited sources in four Moscow libraries.
These books, according to the publication, are being pulled from shelves, undistributed and banned from online ordering. According to one of the sources, a list of authors whose works should not be displayed when booking on the mos.ru website has been distributed to all libraries of the Central Administrative District of Moscow. We are talking about books by Boris Akunin, Dmitry Glukhovsky**, Dmitry Bykov**, Andrey Makarevich**, Ekaterina Shulman** and others.
In one of the libraries in the southern administrative district, according to The Village, the works of Glukhovsky **, Zygar **, Makarevich **, Shenderovich **, Lyudmila Ulitskaya and others were removed from open access libraries.
End of December Lebedenko published another list of books to be delisted from Moscow libraries, given to him by another source. There are already 137 items in this list.

Later, the journalist said that one of his sources decided to speak openly – he turned out to be the head of the Akhmatova SMART library in Krylatskoye, Vladimir Kosarevsky. He gave an interview to Lebedenko for Novaya Gazeta.
According to Kosarevsky, the library was called and told to look for an updated electronic catalog, which indicates which books should be delisted. “They said to look at what books were included in the delisting under the heading ‘for other reasons. A separate list was formed in the catalog for each library, and we had to work it out. According to the radiation law, we must put books in boxes and return them to waste paper for recycling. There was also a request to watch the list daily, as it is updated. Currently, there are 61 positions on this list for our library. And a council of specialists from the library sector was formed, who were asked to give names featuring LGBT characters or the authors themselves – lesbian or gay. The fact that we have to compile these lists ourselves is a real shame,” Kosarevsky said.
On the day of the interview, Kosarevsky said he had left the position of director of the library. Later he also announced that he was leaving Russia.
February 20 Kommersant FM published material on “blacklists” of authors in libraries. The correspondent of the radio station visited several libraries in Moscow, and in one of them he had the following dialogue with a library employee:
– There is no restriction on authors, is there something like that?
– Forbidden is impossible, Akunina **, for example.
“I have a lot of his works.
— Dmitry Bykov** too.
– Is there a list?
– NOW…
– Tell me what you can, otherwise I also have a lot of Glukhovsky **.
And he was banned.
– How long ago?
Probably three months ago. This, you know, is such unofficial information. They called on the phone, they said, here’s the list.
– Who distributes it?
– Our leadership.
They also said the “foreign agents” books were “boxed and taken away”, and the books of some other authors – including Lyudmila Ulitskaya and Boris Akunin – were taken off the shelves. In another library, the correspondent of the radio station was also informed that Glukhovsky** was not extradited at the moment. One of the libraries reported that the writer’s books had been delisted because he was on the “foreign agent” list. In two other libraries, no list was shown to the correspondent and the books of the above authors were ready for loan or acceptance.
At Kommersant’s request to comment on the situation, the press service of Mosrazvitie, a subdivision of Moscow’s Department of Culture that oversees libraries, asked for addresses of institutions where lists of banned authors and names of employees have been found. Having received a refusal, they replied: “We do not know the origin of these lists. Due to the radio station’s refusal to provide information on the specific libraries in question, we do not have the opportunity to clarify the information and comment on this matter.
The press service of the Ministry of Culture of Russia said TASS which has not compiled lists of banned authors and sent them to libraries.
* the social network belongs to the Meta company, whose activities in Russia are recognized as extremist and prohibited
** included by the Ministry of Justice of Russia in the register of foreign agents