After the Russian Minister of Culture Olga Ljubimova joined the EU’s list of Russian representatives and individuals subject to sanctions at the end of last year, the USA has now taken this step and placed her on its updated list.
Olga Lyubimova was added to the US Treasury Department’s sanctions list, which was symbolically announced on February 24, the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Just the goal of the new list explainedThe minister, who took up the post of culture minister in 2020, was included on the list along with a number of Russian government officials and Russian and foreign businessmen accused by the US of evading sanctions.
The press release of the US Department of Finance did not explain why Ljubimova was also included in the list, it was only stated that the goal of the new list is “reduce Russia’s ability to continue its brutal war and obtain the resources used to support it;” it says The Art Newspaper.
Ljubimova, born in Moscow in 1980, is considered a supporter of the war in Ukraine. Her predecessor Vladimir Medinsky, known for his nationalist views, led the aborted negotiations between Russia and Ukraine immediately after the invasion on February 26 last year. In addition to being Putin’s assistant, at the end of the year he was also entrusted with writing a new history textbook for Russian schoolchildren, which will include the war in Ukraine.
Cultural development as a priorityLyubimova was among the top Russian officials present at Putin’s 18th regular State of the Country address on February 21.
On this occasion, the Russian president said, among other things, that “cultural development is a priority for the restoration of peaceful life in Donbass and Novorussia (the self-proclaimed confederation of the internationally unrecognized Lugansk People’s Republic and the Donetsk People’s Republic in eastern Ukraine, op. n.)including museum collections and buildings“to help connect them”with the common cultural, historical and educational space of centuries-old great Russia“.
Denial of Ukrainian nationality and cultureAccording to The Art Newspaper, Minister Ljubimova promoted Putin’s denial of Ukrainian nationality and culture and claimed that the West was trying to destroy Russian cultural and spiritual values.
“The challenges facing Russia, the entire Russian world, our culture, are unprecedented. During this period, every person is faced with a choice, including a spiritual one. Citizens of the four new subjects of the Russian Federation were also chosen. Our new colleagues have become more than 20,000 employees in cultural institutions, Luhansk and Donetsk republics, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions. Creative and professional exchange between our teams and institutions, integration of new regions into the cultural life of the country is our priority,“, among other things, the minister said last month at an educational forum organized by the Russian Orthodox Church.
Source: Rtvslo
