Russia requires ‘drug propaganda’ labels on biographies of Mikhail Bulgakov and Vladimir Vysotsky

Four books about the lives and work of Russian writer Mikhail Bulgakov and Soviet singer-songwriter Vladimir Vysotsky are set to be labeled under Russia's "drug propaganda" law, state media reported on Tuesday. The titles appear in an updated list published by the Russian Book Union cataloguing works that require the warning tag.

The new books subject to the label are Vysotsky: I Have Nothing to Apologize For by Vladimir Novikov, Mikhail Bulgakov by Alexey Varlamov, Bulgakov: My Memoirs by Lyubov Belozerskaya, and In the Footsteps of The Master and Margarita by Yekaterina Gorpinko.

The union's list has been expanding steadily. Previous additions include works by Viktor Pelevin, Stephen King, Chuck Palahniuk, and Haruki Murakami, along with foreign classics translated into Russian after 1 August 1990, such as John Steinbeck's East of Eden.

The labeling requirement follows amendments to Russia's "drug propaganda" law that took effect on 1 March 2026, prohibiting any mention of illegal drugs in news media, books, music, and film without an accompanying disclaimer.