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Putin cautions against bans in culture, including in rap music

The President dubbed the proposal to "give permission to everyone" as "revolutionary" and chuckled at it

© Michail Metsel/TASS

MOSCOW, December 15. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has advised to view cautiously any bans as well as their total removal in the sphere of culture, including in rap music.

"The manner ‘to grab and do not let go’ is the most inefficient, or the worst to be thought of," Putin said at a meeting of the Presidential Council for Culture and Art on Saturday. "The effect will be quite opposite to expectations."

Along with this, Putin dubbed the proposal to "give permission to everyone" as "revolutionary" and chuckled at it.

"Why is it funny? Because we are from a certain stratum of society," he added.

The Russian president plans to meet with Lyudmila Verbitskaya, an acclaimed philologist who does research in strong obscene words in Russian. According to her, the president said, those words are part of the language.

"The question is how to use them," Putin stressed. "We have different body parts, but we do not expose ourselves each time it is either hot or cold."

"We should treat this very carefully," he emphasized.

"Should it be impossible to stop, this should be headed and somehow guided," he is convinced.

In response to critical remarks against rap music, Putin recalled that waltz was viewed as "mauvais ton."

"Later, it evolved into classic," he noted.

"You’ve mentioned that rap rests on three whales - sex, drugs and a protest, but of those, drugs are of the utmost concern," he said at a meeting of the Presidential Council for Culture and Art on Saturday. "It is a way to the nation’s degradation."

"If those somewhere overseas like doing so, God help them. Let them do what they want," he added.

According to the president, drug use and the drugs propaganda are much worse than strong swear words.

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