A spokeswoman for a Russian state media holding denied on Monday that TV channels in the country compiled an elaborate list of officially prohibited swearwords.
“How do you imagine that? I can say for sure that I’ve seen no such lists, and would be very surprised if there is one,” said Viktoria Kurcher of VGTRK.
A list comprising more than 350 words and expressions was published online on Saturday by journalist Vladimir Varfolomeyev, deputy editor-in-chief of the opposition-minded Ekho Moskvy radio.
The list comprised several moderately offensive words such as “ass” and “shit”, as well as harmless definitions for homosexuals, but mostly offered intricately obscene derivatives of some 20 main roots, including Russian equivalents of “F-” and “C-words.” The structure of the Russian language allows creation of dozens of derivational forms of a word using prefixes and suffixes.
Television channels have formally instructed all content producers to never use any of the words in their product, Varfolomeyev said.
The ban was in accordance with a new law to protect children from harmful information in media, which comes into force in September, he claimed.
The law was earlier criticized by the media community, who said its vaguely-formed prohibitions on violence, sex and substance abuse could result in bans even on Disney cartoons and serve as a pretext for censorship.
The government refused to modify the law, but promised to revise it based on how officials on the ground will apply it.
