President Volodymyr Zelenskiy instructed Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal to work out the issues raised in the petition on banning citizens of the Russian Federation from carrying out creative professional activities in Ukraine, and to take appropriate measures.
It is reported that Ukrainian legislation already restricts the broadcasting of audiovisual content, the holding of touring events and the use of musical products, the participants of which are citizens of the Russian Federation.
Zelenskiy also noted that the International Working Group on Sanctions Against Russia, headed by the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Yermak and the former national security adviser of the US President, Ambassador Michael McFaul, has developed a Roadmap for individual sanctions against Russian propagandists, opinion leaders and artists who are openly or covertly generate narratives of Russian propaganda, as well as spread lies about the Russian Federation's war against Ukraine, thus supporting policies aimed at undermining the territorial integrity, sovereignty and security of our country.
Yes, some of these Russians are already under sanctions in Ukraine and other countries.
"Russian culture is actively used by the propaganda machine of the aggressor state, which carries out open, large-scale military aggression against Ukraine, crimes against humanity. And our tasks are the development of a coherent national cultural space, its decolonization, the fight against pro-Russian propaganda, the cleansing of Russian and Soviet in Ukraine propaganda narratives," the president replied.
Zelenskiy noted that he sent the petition to Shmyhal with a request to "instruct him to work out the issues raised in it in accordance with his competence, to take appropriate response measures" and to inform about the results of the author of the petition.