Russian Publishing Trends (2012)

Kyrgyzstan still remains within the Russian sphere of influence when it comes to media. I saw more than my fair share of really bad Russian sitcoms this summer. In particular most books available in Bishkek are imported from Russia. Scholarly books are rarely found in the book shops in Kyrgyzstan, but this summer I found a whole bunch of stuff from Aleksandr Dyukov's "Historical Memory" outfit on the book shelves. These books like the Nazi revisionists at the Institute of Historical Review look scholarly on the surface in that they have foot notes and other academic features. But, their work as a whole is obviously geared to supporting the current Russian effort to rewrite the history of WWII. Among other things the organization which is supported by the Russian government denies the Holodomor and claims that the Baltic deportations including those on 14 June 1941 targeted mainly Nazi collaborators. It overall seeks to justify the Soviet colonization of the Baltic States by portraying Latvians and Estonians as being primordially rabid anti-Slav racists dedicated to the extermination of Russians and Belorussians. You can go see their publications for yourself at their website.