Translated by Ollie Richardson & Angelina Siard

19:14:29
15/02/2018

strana.ua

A group of cultural figures and representatives of the Kiev public appealed to the President of Ukraine, the mayor of Kiev, international organisations in which Ukraine is represented, and ambassadors in Ukraine of the “G7” with a letter about the preparation of actions against the Russian Centre for Science and Culture in Kiev (Rossotrudnichestvo) on February 18th.

The radical organisations “Voluntary Movement OUN”, “White Hammer – Force and honor!”, “Black Committee”, Social-National Assembly, and the Committee for the release of political prisoners already made an announcement about this action. In particular, it is planned to carry out the veche “Death to Russia” with a subsequent march to Rossotrudnichestvo.

As was explained to us by one of signers of the appeal of cultural figures, the publicist Dmitry Skvortsov, it will be personally handed over to all the aforementioned addressees with freshly made signatures. But he doesn’t want to make the names of the signers public for safety reasons.

“On February 18th of this year, the rally under the slogan ‘Death to Russia!’ will be carried out by right-wing nationalist organisations in Kiev on Maidan,” it is said in the address. “After meeting in the city center, nationalists made the decision to march to the building of the Russian Center for Science and Culture (Rossotrudnichestvo) located on 2 Borisoglebskaya Street. As the organisers of the action write, ‘the aim of the march is to stop the activity of the center in Ukraine’.”

As the authors of the letter note, “we have every reason to believe that this action of nationalists won’t be peaceful. The organisers of the rally are known for a number of extremist illegal actions. Besides this, information about a possible arson of the building of the Center is actively being spread in the media and on social networks. As a result, employees and visitors of the Russian Center for Science and Culture are under threat, and significant material damage can be caused to the building”.

In the letter it is also said: “It should be noted that the activity of various cultural, information, and educational centers is a standard world practice. Thus, in Kiev the American house, the British Council, Goethe Institute, the Polish institute, the French institute, the Israeli cultural center, and also other similar centers of various countries successfully work.

The Russian Center for Science and Culture in Kiev acts absolutely lawfully under the intergovernmental agreement ratified by the parliaments of Ukraine and Russia. The Ukrainian Cultural Center works on the basis of the same agreement in Moscow.

The management of the Russian Center for Science and Culture in Kiev notified the law enforcement bodies of Ukraine about the action being prepared on February 18th of this year and expects protection from them against the illegal actions of radicals. However, considering that to date the perpetrators of previous attacks on the Center weren’t identified and held accountable, the authors of the letter ask the President Poroshenko and the mayor Klitschko “to take necessary measures for the purpose of preventing illegal actions concerning the Russian Center for Science and Culture in Kiev”.

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