Reservation of culture and media workers from mobilization: explanation from the Ministry of Culture

Acting Minister of Culture and Information Policy Rostyslav Karandieiev

The Ministry of Culture explained the reservation of culture and media workers from mobilization. The Directorate of Traveling Circuses and the Media are important to national security.

Acting Minister of Culture and Information Policy Rostyslav Karandieiev announced this.

«I was outraged by the hate around the topic of reservation of workers in the sphere of culture and media. This is a common disrespect for people in the field who do their work honestly and qualitatively, a primitive assessment of their social importance, as well as the overall importance of culture in a warring country. How can you draw conclusions about the importance of a cultural institution based only on its name? The state enterprise «Directorate of Mobile Circus Teams of Ukraine» is not a street tent, as someone imagines, but a professional team of high-class masters of their craft,» he emphasized.

Rostislav Karandieiev also noted that this is the only institution that holds performances in the most remote territorial communities, where it is difficult to reach and where people do not have the opportunity to attend cultural events.

According to him, the Directorate of Mobile Circus Teams of Ukraine applied for reservations for only 14 people. This is less than 10% of the total number of the entire team.

He noted that these are 11 performers of the most complex circus genres and three more technical workers who are inseparably connected with the artists and without whose participation the performances simply do not take place.

«I am not ashamed of those workers in the field of culture who work in Ukraine today, I am no less proud of them than those artists who changed their stage clothes to military uniforms,» he said.

Rostislav Karandieiev added that eight employees of the Directorate of Mobile Circus Teams of Ukraine protect the country as part of the Armed Forces.

«Regarding the booking of media workers. During the war, when the enemy manipulates public opinion in Ukraine and abroad, spreads misinformation and outright lies, the Ukrainian mass media is a source of true information and a pillar of Ukraine's national security. Therefore, some of the workers in this field are also reserved,» he concluded.

Earlier it was reported that the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy granted the status of «critically important» to the SE «Mobile Circus of Ukraine» and the media participating in the telethon «Yedini Novyny».

The updated law on mobilization in Ukraine

On December 19, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, gave a final press conference, where he announced that the General Staff and the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valerii Zaluzhnyi proposed to mobilize up to 400,000-500,000 more people for military operations.

Subsequently, the Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Valerii Zaluzhnyi commented on the plans to mobilize 500,000 people into the ranks of the Ukrainian army. He said the command did not request specific numbers.

The head of the «Servant of the People» presidential faction, David Arakhamiia, said that on December 25, the government was supposed to submit a draft law on mobilization, which he is working on at the request of the military.

On January 4, the Council's Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence began considering a new law on mobilization. The discussion together with the command of the Armed Forces and representatives of the Ministry of Defense will last several days.

On January 11, draft law No. 10378 on improving mobilization, military registration and military service was sent back for revision.

What about the mobilization in Mykolaiv Oblast?

As you know, during the full-scale war, 33,000 residents of the Mykolaiv Oblast were mobilized into the ranks of the Armed Forces.

The head of the Mykolaiv regional military administration, Vitalii Kim, expressed his belief in the need for mobilization after personal communication with the military, who are currently defending the state. The head of the RMA also added that money should not be the main motivation for protecting the state.

In response to this, Oksana Kaliuzhna, a member of the Mykolaiv Regional Council, reacted negatively to the regional leadership's statement regarding mobilization, comparing the issuing of summonses to evasioners to catching dogs.