Russia’s Largest Bookstore Chain Spends 100 Million Rubles to Destroy Banned Titles

Chitai‑Gorod‑Bukvoed, Russia’s biggest bookstore chain, has spent roughly 100 million rubles in recent years to pull books that violate Russian law from shelves and have them shredded on camera. The chain’s chief, Alexander Brychkin, explained that the books cannot be returned to suppliers and must be treated as toxic waste, so a licensed service destroys them under video surveillance. The process begins when the Russian Book Union flags a title; the chain suspends sales, transports the stock to a warehouse, and then arranges for its destruction. Brychkin noted that the company bears all costs—transport, storage, and disposal—without reimbursement. The practice has left some banned works, such as those by Lyudmila Ulitskaya and Boris Akunin, in restricted storage, while readers report little interest in the removed titles. Recent bans, including Olga Ptitseva’s novels, illustrate the ongoing pressure on publishers and retailers to comply with censorship directives.