Five Years After the Sorokin Affair: Examining Cultural Policy Under Putin's Russia

In January 2002, a group of clean-cut young protesters gathered in central Moscow to denounce what they called obscene and unwholesome elements in recent Russian literature. This rally marked the beginning of a campaign and criminal case targeting writer Vladimir Sorokin, which attracted significant public and media attention across Russia. The Sorokin affair unfolded as a notable cultural controversy during the Putin regime. An essay published in June 2007 on ARTMargins Online revisits these events five years later. Authors Evgenii Bershtein and Jesse Hadden, based in Portland, OR, analyze the affair within the context of the Putin administration's discursive practices. Their work examines how cultural policy was shaped and contested during this period. The protest specifically objected to certain literary works deemed inappropriate. The criminal case against Sorokin became a focal point for debates about artistic freedom and state intervention in culture.