In the «Bukvoed» bookstore chain in St. Petersburg, a collection of Bulat Okudzhava's poems is being sold with a foreign agent label, reported former Legislative Assembly deputy Boris Vishnevsky* and «Novaya Gazeta». «This material (information) is produced by the foreign agent OKUDZHAVA B. Or concerns the activities of the foreign agent OKUDZHAVA B.», — is stated on the sticker on the books of poet Bulat Okudzhava, who died in 1997.
The bookstore could not explain why the book is marked «18+» and packaged this way. On the «Bukvoed» website, such a book by Okudzhava is indeed for sale. However, its description does not contain any notes about a «foreign agent».
Most likely, the age restrictions and foreign agent labels are related to the fact that the foreword to the poems was written by poet Dmitry Bykov, who is indeed included in the Ministry of Justice's «foreign agents» registry.
Representatives of «Bukvoed» told «Rotunda» that a «technical error» occurred, noting that books with Bykov's foreword are no longer sold, the new edition contains a foreword by Konstantin Arbenin.
In June, books by Japanese writer Yukio Mishima, who died in 1970, began to be sold in some Russian stores with a «foreign agent» label. The label was likely made because in Russia his novels «The Temple of the Golden Pavilion» and «Confessions of a Mask» were translated by writer Boris Akunin**, who is included in the «foreign agents» registry.
* Recognized in Russia as «foreign agents».
** Recognized in Russia as a «foreign agent», included in the list of «terrorists and extremists».
Photo: Novaya Gazeta