The Russian government last week published a “State cultural policy strategy” set goals for the next six years. The plan prioritizes measures to protect “traditional Russian values” from “pernicious” Western influence that “causes irreparable damage” to “fundamental moral and cultural norms.” The plan includes increased funding for efforts to counter “attempts by hostile states to undermine the global influence of Russian culture.”
The Russification of Ukrainians living under Russian occupation is one of the main goals of this strategy. To achieve this, the institutions and schools founded in Moscow will “re-educate” Ukrainians, starting from kindergarten, with the teaching of “historical truths”.
Among the many “historical truths” emphasized in the Russian strategy is the history of the Ukrainian Drama Theater in Mariupol, which it says was “seriously damaged” by the Ukrainian armed forces.
“Since the start of the special military operation, Ukrainian troops have caused serious damage to iconic cultural institutions, unique historical and architectural monuments and religious sites. Among them… the (building) of the Mariupol Republican Academic Order of the Russian Drama Theater Badge. the cultural policy document States.
This is false.
Ukraine used the Mariupol Theater as a bomb shelter, with the word “Children” painted in large white letters on a sidewalk outside. Russia bombed and destroyed it on March 16, 2022, killing up to 600 Ukrainians.
The Associated Press investigated the bombing and recreated the events of that day based on the testimonies of 23 survivors.
“Amidst all the horrors of the war in Ukraine, the Russian bombing of the Donetsk Regional Academic Drama Theater in Mariupol on March 16 stands out as the deadliest known attack on civilians to date. An Associated Press investigation found evidence that the attack was actually far deadlier than expected, killing nearly 600 people inside and outside the building,” the AP reported in May 2022.
AP also refuted Russian claims at the time that servicemen from the Ukrainian Azov Battalion blew up the shelter they had mined. “No one doubted that the theater had been destroyed in a Russian air attack aimed precisely at a civilian target that included children,” the AP reported.
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, Human Rights Watch and the UK-based watchdog Amnesty International have called the attack a war crime.
The OSCE reported in April 2022, up to 1,300 people sought refuge in the Mariupol theater on the day of the Russian strike. At least 300 people died in the bombing, while 150 managed to escape. The OSCE called the attack a probable war crime and a violation of international humanitarian law.
Human rights monitoring verified videos showing the Mariupol theater engulfed in smoke and flames after a Russian strike and said targeting civilian structures, as in this case, may constitute a war crime under international law .
Amnesty International’s investigationpublished in June 2022, concluded that Russian forces committed “a clear war crime” by deliberately targeting the Mariupol theater on March 16, despite knowing that civilians were sheltering there.
The report details how two 500-kilogram bombs, dropped by Russian warplanes, hit the building, killing hundreds of people. Amnesty’s crisis response team interviewed survivors, analyzed digital evidence and used a mathematical model to confirm the explosive weight of the bombs.
The investigation ruled out any alternative explanation, identifying a deliberate airstrike on a civilian target as the most plausible scenario.
After taking Mariupol in May 2022, Russian forces secretly removed the bodies of the victimstaking them to an unknown place. Moscow has not allowed any independent international investigators to visit the site of the destroyed theater.
To date, Russia carries out systematic airstrikes on Ukrainian residential areass, aimed at terrorizing civilians, destroying infrastructure and turning Ukrainian cities into uninhabitable ghost towns, AP reported in June.
On October 22, Russian drones targeted a residential area in SumyUkraine, killing three civilians, including a 14-year-old girl, her mother and her aunt. The attack was part of a larger nighttime air attack in several Ukrainian regions.
