In December last year, Ukrainian Culture Minister Oleksandr Tkachenko called on Western countries to refrain from promoting and consuming Russian culture while the war is ongoing.“He [Tkachenko] is asking for a simple thing: in a time of war, when Russia is targeting Ukrainian culture, we must give up works that we used to find acceptable,” the minister said on the LRT Forumas programme.In his words, the state should not become a censor and use measures akin to the Russian regime in banning some works, so people and institutions must rethink the acceptability of Russian culture themselves.Gražina Arlickaitė, the director of the Scanorama film festival, also emphasised the importance of the historical context: “Our context is the war that is happening right next to us.But Russia is now considering its culture not only as a soft power but also as a weapon, stressed Gintautas Kėvišas, the former head of the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre."