Fighting Empire, Weaponising Culture: The Conflict with Russia and the Restrictions on Russian Mass Culture in Post-Maidan Ukraine

Abstract

This essay explores the controversial restrictions on Russian mass culture in post-Maidan Ukraine as an element of a complex palimpsest of post-Soviet culture wars. It addresses public debates and political controversies around the role of Russian culture in Ukraine in order to explain why and how they evolved into a Kulturkampf following the Euromaidan and the Russian aggression in 2014. The essay focuses on three central aspects of this Kulturkampf: limiting the import of Russian books and printed products; restrictions on Russian films and television products; and the ban on Russian artists touring in Ukraine.