Nearly 30% of the books will have to be removed from Yekaterinburg libraries, as they were purchased with money from billionaire George Soros’ foundation. Director of the Yekaterinburg Municipal Association of Libraries Irina Cheremisinova spoke about this in the city Duma.
“The bulk of the books were purchased in the 1990s. Now we are facing legislative changes. We have to remove some books from the fund, because they were purchased with Soros’ money. This represents about 30% of our total holdings,” Sheremysinova said in response to a question from Yabloko deputy Konstantin Kiselev about the acquisition of the library’s collection.
According to her, libraries in other regions also faced this problem, and it was caused by changing legislation.
At the same meeting, as noted by Vechernye Vedomosti, Elena Sokolova, acting director of the Yekaterinburg Department of Culture, said that there is now a shortage of books in libraries, and there is a shortage of funds in the budget to replenish funds.
Billionaire George Soros’s foundation has been operating in Russia since the late 1980s. Basically, the Foundation, through the non-profit organizations Open Society and Aid, was involved in the development and support of educational programs, provided assistance to students and scholars, financed the construction of Internet centers, and also allocated funds for the printing of books and textbooks.
In 2003, the Soros Foundation reduced its active activities in Russia. In 2015, the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation declared the Soros Foundation an “undesirable” organization, saying it helped undermine the constitutional order of the Russian Federation.