Russia’s national library has a ‘closed repository of destructive literature.’ It includes Stephen Hawking and a Churchill biography — and is decorated with Ukrainian dog tags and a Putin quote.

The Russian State Library (RSL, also known as the Lenin Library) has for several months been running a “closed repository for destructive literature.” Only intelligence service employees and scholars can get in. Scholars, however, have to pass a separate interview with the RSL to gain access. Kommersant toured the storage facility. Here’s what stood out.The storage facility is divided into five sections: the ideology of the “ruling Ukrainian elite,” Ukrainian nationalism, foreign authors writing about the “Ukrainian–Russian conflict,” children’s literature, and books by “modern Ukrainian nationalists.”Among the Ukrainian-language books a correspondent for the Russian business daily Kommersant spotted on display were:Books by Lucy and Stephen Hawking about the adventures of a boy named George, which are freely sold in Russian translation in Russia (example)Martin Gilbert’s biography of Churchill, also freely sold in Russian translation in Russia (example)K. O’Neill’s graphic novel Princess Princess Ever After, about the relationship between two princesses (other books by O’Neill are freely sold in Russian translation, example).The “repository for destructive literature” is decorated with:A quote from Putin (“Distorting history, planting myths, and eroding values are, in many ways, exactly where the destabilization of states and nations begins with these myths”)A quote from Investigative Committee head Alexander Bastrykin (“In Ukraine, schoolchildren are taken to lay flowers on the graves of Nazis involved in the mass killing of civilians, glorifying those who collaborated with Nazi Germany”)A Korsar MZ bulletproof vestDog tags belonging to Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers.At Meduza, we are committed to transparency about our use of artificial intelligence in the newsroom. The story you’re reading was written by one of our living, breathing journalists and translated from Russian using an AI model configured to follow our strict editorial standards. This translation process is the result of extensive testing and refinements to ensure our English-language coverage is timely and accurate. A Meduza editor reviews every draft before publication.If you find any errors in this translation, please contact us at [email protected].To read Meduza’s exclusive content in English, please subscribe to our newsletter.Cover photo: Sefa Karacan / Anadolu / Getty Images