Repression also targets artists in Russia.
The novelist Lyoudmila Oulitskaïa, critic of the Russian assault in Ukraine and who lives in exile in Germany, was classified on Friday as a “foreign agent” by the Russian authorities.
Hundreds of people, human rights activists, opponents or independent journalists, have been classified in Russia in recent years as “foreign agents”, which is accompanied by strict administrative constraints and the obligation to appear as such in all public communication.
Lioudmila Oulitskaïa, 81, is known in Russia for her books “Sonietchka” – won the Medici Prize in 1996 – and “Le Chapiteau Vert”.
His best-known novel, “Daniel Stein, Interpreter,” based on the true story of a Jewish man who became a Catholic priest, won the Big Book Prize in 2007.
Defender of freedom of expression
This writer, who loves freedom of expression, whose works have been translated into many languages, likes to stand up to the Kremlin, a very rare choice in the Russian literary world.
She has repeatedly denounced the “senseless” assault by Russian forces in Ukraine, assuring in 2023 that it would have “catastrophic consequences for Russia itself”.
According to the Russian Ministry of Justice on Friday, the author “opposed” the conflict in Ukraine and notably “made propaganda in favor of LGBT relations”.
She has lived in Germany since 2022 after leaving Russia following the launch of the offensive in Ukraine, like many of Vladimir Putin's detractors.