Updated

Russian authorities have burned more than 50 books and pulled more than 500 other volumes from college libraries on the grounds they contain sentiments "alien to Russian ideology."

The books, most of them textbooks, were published with money from the Soros Fund, which in November was declared an "undesirable agent" and forced to stop its work in Russia.

The books were removed from libraries in two colleges in the northwestern Komi region and some were later burned.

The Komi education minister said in a letter dated Wednesday that the books were destroyed to fulfill an order from a presidential envoy requesting that books published with funds from the Soros Fund be removed from circulation. The letter was sent to a local news site in response to its request for information.