The Library as an Object of the State Political Communications in the Context of Russia’s Neo-Imperial Policy

The article explores the features of modern methods of political communication between the state and the library system in the Russian Federation. The direct dependence of reforming the library system on changes in the political course of Russia is revealed. There is a deliberate effort on the part of the authorities to significantly reduce both the centers of cultural development of society and a significant part of the influence of the thinking intelligentsia on the formation of political views of the population. The specifics and methods of political communications that the state uses to transform the political preferences of the society through its impact on the library system and the library community are determined. The implications of these political communication methods are discussed. Political communications could be characterized as one-sided, statements and comments made by the members of scientific and cultural community, street protests, critical conclusions of analytical structures and disagreement of individual citizens remain without proper reaction from the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, which has caused repeated complaints from the public. The dominant aggressive force of the state pressure is manifested in the closure of cultural institutions, dismissal of specialists, introduction of political censorship, imposition of historical revisionism, practice of moral and psychological pressure, application of administrative and criminal responsibility. The paper states that the current state system in Russia is indicative of a return to totalitarianism. The library system in the Russian state is becoming the object of deliberate political influence with clear neo-imperial features.