October 14, 2025

Russia's War on Books: A Censored Translation


Russia's War on Books: A Censored Translation
Books on Russian politics. The Russian Life File.

On October 10, Mediazona reported that a publishing house in Russia removed all references to LGBT persons in a Russian translation of the book "The Identity Trap," by German-American political scientist Yascha Mounk. 

According to Mediazona, political scientist Vladimir Gelman drew attention to the translation's censorship on a private Facebook group. On October 3, the literary magazine Gorky published an excerpt of the Russian translation of "The Identity Trap," edited by the Individuum publishing house for distribution in Russia.

The original work has a passage that reads, "Some people feel that their gender does not match their biological sex. We should allow them to live as they wish and celebrate the greater acceptance of trans people." However, the paragraph reads differently in the translation: it skips the call for trans rights.

Instead, it included the following disclaimer: "According to Article 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, propaganda and public display of extremist organizations are prohibited; in January, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation's decision recognizing the 'international LGBT public movement' as an extremist organization came into effect — Editor's note." Individuum told Mediazona that the note appeared at the Editor-in-Chief's discretion. 

Individuum has had its run-ins with the Russian government. In the spring, the manager David Protopopov, former sales director Pavel Ivanov, and warehouse manager and distributor Artem Vakhlyaev were placed under house arrest for being involved in an "extremist organization." The arrests were carried out after the publishing house Eksmo acquired Individuum and Popcorn books, the latter of which is known for publishing fan fiction, including LGBT love stories.

Individuum is not the only publishing house under government scrutiny. In July, the bookstore Falanster and its founder, Boris Kupriyanov, were fined R800,000 R ($9,843) and R100,000 ($1,230) respectively for "LGBT propaganda." In September, a Moscow court fined Novoyoe Literaturnoe Obozrenie (New Literature Review) R400,000 ($4,921) for "LGBT propaganda." The publisher had published "Infernal Feminism" by Swedish religious historian Per Faxneld. The publishing company Ad Magnum also faced charges for releasing Olivia Lange's "Everybody's Body."

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