LONDON Arguments in the United Kingdom over the role of Russian studies and the promotion of Russian culture sparked by the invasion of Ukraine continue to rage even as the fighting enters its 14th month. The U.K.’s leading independent Russian cultural center, Pushkin House, last month even faced calls to change its name and drop its association with the famous 19th century poet. Despite Pushkin House's fervent opposition to the war and decision to alter its programming to give a voice to Ukrainians and Russian minority groups, this has not been enough for some. Institutions in the U.K. promoting Russian culture “remain remarkably complacent and beholden to obsolete russophile fantasies, which reflect neither reality nor current ethical and geopolitical conjectures,” Michał Murawski, a professor at University College London, told The Moscow Times. The intensity of such arguments about how to study Russian culture as well as with debates about “decolonizing
Sasse is a nonresident senior fellow at Carnegie Europe. Her research focuses on Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, EU enlargement, and comparative democratization.