Novikov, the 'supreme censor' of Putin culture

A 47-year-old opera director, thanks to his loyalty to the cause, has taken on the task of dictating the new rules for Russian artists. With the support of the Kremlin, he has set up a large "patriotic content" project to produce films and television series, but also video games and apps to wink at the world of youth.

Moscow (AsiaNews) - Among the many ideologues and propagandists of Putin's Russia, perpetually fighting against "foreign agents" and seeking to defend "traditional values", a particularly significant place is occupied by 47-year-old Sergei Novikov, a little-known opera director, much better known as the director of the Administration of Social Projects at the Russian Federation presidency, whose task is to establish the new rules for Russian culture.

The palm of 'supreme censor' was awarded to Novikov, who was an advocate of freedom of expression in the 1990s, on the occasion of a sensational concert: on the 80th anniversary of the siege of Leningrad, Novikov organised the setting of Verdi's Requiem for the Moscow Philharmonic choir's performance.

At the final moment of Libera me, instead of the classic evocation of the Nazis in Berlin, a film of the Euromaidan in Kiev was shown, putting the demolition of Soviet monuments in place of a bonfire of books. The scene made such an impression that many spectators walked out of the hall, and even the conductor Dmitry Jurovsky said he was 'bewildered' by the film, of which he was not informed.

Novikov began showing his face as the 'hammer of heretics' shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, when many Russian artists and musicians signed an anti-war appeal, posting on social media posts with the black square, another symbol of Russian art.

Then the director of cultural projects started a series of extraordinary meetings and assemblies, initiating a mass repulse in the world of culture. Those who did not want to refrain from commenting on the war actions were soon expelled from everything.

Many compare Novikov to Jakov Agranov, an Nkvd intelligence executive who under Stalin oversaw the repression of the 'creative intelligentsija', starting with Vladimir Majakovsky and his Futurist movement. According to those who know him, Novikov is very vain and shows up in a dinner jacket at every event, seeking recognition for his 'elevated role' in the current dimension of Russian culture.

Acting under the direction of one of Putin's closest collaborators, ex-premier Sergei Kirienko, it was Novikov himself who, on his own initiative, released to the media the 'results of the analysis' of the poisoning of Aleksej Naval'nyj in 2020, according to which there was 'nothing suspicious' in the blood of the opponent. Since then, he often intervenes in public to reprimand in apparently good-natured and friendly tones all 'deviant' writers and artists, who then end up in lagers or abroad.

Together with Kirienko, the official set up a large 'patriotic content' project to produce films, TV series, video games and other apps, involving his 25-year-old daughter Ksenia, in order to target the preferences of the youth world. Together with a number of Orthodox priests, in particular the proto-priest Aleksandr Tkačenko, he set up the foundation 'The Circle of Good' for charitable activities, especially in the health sector, and participates in the board of the Dialog association, specialising in fake news against Ukraine and dependent on the Ministry of Defence.

In one of his last interviews in recent days, Novikov explained that he did not develop his career as a filmmaker as he would have liked, 'I had to feed the children, and I tried to find a normal job'. Instead, today he has to 'communicate constantly with directors, actors, directors and all the other players in the world of entertainment', simply as a 'principal or producer', thus remaining in the world of his artistic profession, but 'on the other side of the barricade'. The one he himself erected, and behind which he unearths with his infallible binoculars all the 'cultural prey' of his uninterrupted witch-hunt.