The head of the Russian Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, ordered the examination of Grigory Oster’s books because the writer’s works contain “questions that are questionable from a pedagogical point of view,” the Investigative Committee’s press service reported on April 21.
A representative of the department explained to TASS that Bastrykin ordered the examination of the series of poems by writer Gregory Oster “Bad Advice.”
The Ministry indicated that Oster’s books were discussed at a meeting of the Coordination Council of the Investigative Committee on Providing Assistance to Children Affected by Humanitarian Disasters, Natural Disasters, Terrorist Attacks and Armed Conflicts.
“Bad Advice” is a collection of satirical poems by Gregory Auster, in which children are told to do the opposite.
In 2024, the Krasnoyarsk Territory Prosecutor’s Office demanded that the book “Bad Advice” be withdrawn from sale and destroyed, considering that it “depicts descriptions of cruelty, physical and psychological violence and anti-social actions that cause fear, terror or panic in children.” Following public interest, the Public Prosecutor’s Office announced that it would not demand the destruction of the book’s circulation.
Oster is the author of the first children’s text novel in Russia called “A Tale in Details” and the creator of the texts of the cartoons “38 Parrots”, “Gotcha, Who Bites!”, “A Kitten Named Woof”. He is also known as the author of texts on the website “President of Russia for School-Age Citizens”, located at children.kremlin.ru.