Vladimir Putin decries ‘cancelling’ of JK Rowling in ‘book burning’ rant

Vladimir Putin has compared the so-called “cancelling” of JK Rowling as akin to Nazis burning books in the 1930s.

Putin cited Rowling during a rant claiming that the West is trying to “cancel” Russia as his troops continue to wreak devastation on Ukraine.

In dubbed footage broadcast by Sky News on Friday (25 March), Putin claimed that the West seeks to “cancel, cynically, the truth”.

“They cancelled JK Rowling, the children’s author recently,” Putin continued. “Her books are published all over the world. Just because she didn’t satisfy the demands of gender rights”.

“They are now trying to cancel our country. I’m talking about the progressive discrimination of everything to do with Russia.”

“We remember the footage when they were burning books,” Putin added of the “trend” of “engaging in cancel culture”.

“It is impossible to imagine such a thing in our country and we are insured against this thanks to our culture.”

Earlier this month, Sergey Naryshkin, director of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, described Russia as a victim of “cancel culture” following global sanctions levied against it.