Roberto Carnero, an Italian literature professor at the University of Bologna, was shocked when he received a call from his Italian publisher in March about the Russian translation of his new book. The Russian publisher, AST, would agree to publish his critical essay on the openly gay Italian film director Pier Paolo Pasolini only with severe cuts. When the book hit the shelves in Russia, Carnero saw how extensive they were. Photographs circulating on Russian Telegram channels showed significant sections were redacted with thick black lines, totalling some 70 out of 400 pages, he said. “I am very concerned about this,” he said in a phone interview from Milan. “This is something that happens in dictatorships.”