Svitlana Valko works for the organization The Center for Civil Liberties. They are working to uncover war crimes in Ukraine. This week there is both a Freedom of Expression Conference (WEXFO) and a literature festival in Lillehammer. Both cities are both Russians and Ukrainians on the program. Valko was present. But is not gracious to the organizers who have invited Russians. Among other things, the Russian editor and peace prize winner Dmitry Muratov attended an open public meeting on freedom of expression. He’s on the big screen. IS WRONG: Svitlana Valko believes that Russian opposition figures are wrong in their attempts to change something in Russia. Photo: Lars Erik Skrefsrud / NRK – The festival should really give room to others now while people I know are killed in my home country. Several announced cancellations Before the weekend, it was known that three Ukrainian authors have recently announced cancellations from the festival. It was the newspaper Klassekampen that first mentioned the case. Ukrainians will not participate in a festival that has Russians on the program. Svitlana Valko fully supports them. And would consider the same myself. She questions why the Russians get so much speaking time while their country is fighting in Ukraine. It does not help that the invited Russians are opposition, according to her. Muratov received the Peace Prize for standing up for freedom of expression through the newspaper he is the editor of, “Novaya Gazeta”. He delivered a speech at the opening of the World Expression Forum (WEXFO): Svitlana Valko does not deny that there are opposition figures in Russia. But she is tired of Russian opposition getting attention while Russian soldiers kill people in Ukraine. Sorry Festival Director Marit Borkenhagen regrets that the three Ukrainian authors chose to cancel the trip to Lillehammer. – We would very much like to see them here, but we must respect the decision they have made. The Ukrainian authors are in a situation that we can hardly understand, she says. RESPECT: Director of the Norwegian Literature Festival, Marit Borkenhagen, says we must have respect for the Ukrainians’ position. Photo: Lars Erik Skrefsrud / NRK Borkenhagen says it has always been clear that there were both Russians and Ukrainians on the program. Get in touch The three Ukrainian authors were all to take part in a program entitled “Ukraine, History and the War”. Editor Christian Kjelstrup in the magazine Samtiden has organized and was to rent the conversation. He is sorry that the Ukrainians have announced a cancellation. Muratov is the winner of the Peace Prize. He has donated the prize money to Ukrainian war victims. If the Ukrainians can not join the festival with him, I do not understand how we can have a dialogue, says Kjestrup. Now there is a Ukrainian left. Serhii Plokhy, a professor of Ukrainian history, lives in the United States. It has not closed NRK to get in touch with these authors. Katarina Babkina, who also declined an invitation to the festival, writes in an e-mail to Klassekampen that “Russian culture is the basis of the Russian society that kills us”. NOBEL PRIZE WINNER: Dmitry Muratov received the Peace Prize in December last year, two months before Russia invaded Ukraine. Photo: Terje Pedersen / NTB Imperalism Two other Nobel Prize winners, Maria Ressa and Abdulrazak Gurnah, are present at Stortorget in Lillehammer at the Literature Festival. Russian exile Kira Jarmysj is also there to participate in the program. Yarmysh is a spokesman for Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny. Navalny has previously said that it is impossible to return Crimea to Ukraine, even if he gained power. Therefore, the Ukrainian writers believe that both Navalny and Yarmysh stand for Russian imperialism.
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