{
  "id": 5099287,
  "title": "Russia’s government wants to legalize already-published books by ‘foreign agents’ and ‘undesirable’ organizations (they make up over half of library holdings)",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/02/russias-government-wants-to-legalize-already-published-books-by",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-09-02T13:54:35.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Meduza (English)",
    "slug": "meduza-english",
    "url": "https://meduza.io/en/news/2026/09/02/russia-s-government-wants-to-legalize-already-published-books-by-foreign-agents-and-undesirable-organizations-they-make-up-over-half-of-library-holdings"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Russia's Digital Development Ministry is discussing with other government bodies the possibility of legally allowing books published before certain organizations and individuals were flagged as \"undesirable\" or \"foreign agents\" to remain in circulation. These groups include the Soros Foundation, the World Wildlife Fund, and even prestigious universities like Yale, Berkeley, and Stanford. The ministry believes it's necessary to reassess the current laws, or change them altogether, to avoid the mass removal of important publications from libraries and bookstores.\n\nLibraries are in a tough spot, as they must now deal with the possibility of removing socially significant works, even when a \"foreign agent\" or \"undesirable\" organization only played a minor role in the publication. This could result in the loss of up to 70% of library holdings, according to a 2025 Digital Development Ministry report. The Justice Ministry is participating in the discussions, and the Presidential Administration says the initiative is still at the stage of interagency talks, with no final solution yet.\n\nCensorship has been a major issue for Russia's book market since the beginning of the full-scale war. Books by authors labeled as \"foreign agents\" and \"extremists\" have been removed from shelves, and publishers have had to remove references to the war and queer relationships from their books. In 2025, a \"publishers' case\" began, with employees accused of distributing queer literature. This case, which started with the popular novel \"A Summer in a Pioneer's Necktie,\" has led to the sentencing of several defendants. Meduza strives to be transparent about its use of AI in reporting, and this story was written by a human journalist and translated from Russian using an AI tool.",
  "summary": "Russia’s Digital Development Ministry is in talks with the Justice Ministry, the Interior Ministry, and the Presidential Administration over ways to achieve the “legalization” of books by “undesirable” organizations and “foreign agents” that were published before those individuals or organizations received those designations, Vladimir Grigoryev, director of the ministry’s department for state…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}