Both The Day and ordinary Ukrainian citizens continue to watch closely the developments involving the Library of Ukrainian Literature in Moscow. As it is known, in December, 2010, the only Ukrai-nian library in Russia’s capital was closed, allegedly for possessing extremist literature. Later Russian law enforcement bodies searched the library several times. The Ukrainian government and many politicians reacted to it almost immediately and promised help. Late last month Ukraine’s President Viktor Yanukovych donated his books to the library. The leader of the Front of Changes Arsenii Yatseniuk recently visited Moscow and, on behalf of his fund Open Ukraine, brought five computers, a multifunctional printing, scanning and copying machine, a projector with a screen, as well as books. Last Friday Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Kostiantyn Hryshchenko assured in his speech in the Verkhovna Rada during the “Hour of Questions to the Government” that “the case of the library has been overall settled.” However, the press service of the Union of Ukrainians of Russia immediately refuted his words, saying they “didn’t reflect the actual situation… the server, computer hard drives, books, and periodicals were confiscated. The library’s website doesn’t work, employees cannot use modern information technologies, the police continue to interrogate them; the personnel and readers are in constant tension.”
What is the real situation with the library? The Day asked Natalia Sharina, director of the Library of Ukrainian Literature in Moscow, to comment on the situation:
“What Hryshchenko said is correct. The Library of Ukrainian Li-terature, despite all the events which took place, is open to readers. All employees are available, readers are being served, and the reading hall and the circulating library both function. All scheduled activities are taking place: concerts, literary presentations, music performances, a translation studio, and Ukrainian language classes.
“However, in spite of the fact that the library is functioning, we are isolated from the outer world because of the absence of Internet access. Consequently, no one can read about our plans and activities. The financial and economic activity of the library was stopped, which is problematic for the library’s employees and administration. For the first time in years we had salary delays for employees. Our library’s website was on our server, and since our hard drives were taken away, it stopped working. On Friday I was interrogated and I asked the investigator when they would return [the confiscated materials] to us. He promised that all hard drives would be returned within a week.”
“Arsenii Yatseniuk and Borys Tarasiuk visited us. We felt the attention of Ukrainians at the highest level — Ukraine’s President Viktor Yanukovych managed to donate his own editions of books by Lesia Ukrainka and Ivan Franko to us.
We regularly call the Embassy of Ukraine in Russia, the representatives of which have recently visited our library as well. There was a lot of attention from Ukrainian journalists. We feel the support and it’s pleasant. Ukraine has become more objective about the library of late. It no longer represents an apple of discord — it was very unpleasant when people used it to slander the representatives of Ukraine’s Embassy in Russia.”
