In Montenegro, the concert of the Belarusian group "Lyapis Trubetskoy" "Warriors of the Light", which was to be held in the cities of Kotor and Budva, was canceled. According to the organizers of the concert on Instagram, the cancellation occurred due to "unprecedented political pressure."
“Due to the unprecedented political pressure on concert venues related to the civic position of the Lyapis Trubetskoy group, today it is not possible to hold a concert of this group. All sites one after another refused to hold a concert. The organizers and artists were negotiating to the last and tried to save this performance.”
A few hours before the performance, a crowd of people gathered in front of the club, chanting “Serbs and Russians are brothers forever,” according to local CDM.
The Ukrainian embassy in Montenegro reacted to the incident, since Lyapis Trubetskoy is a group with anti-war principles, whose concert is called “Warriors of the Light”, a significant part of the group’s fans and concert visitors are Ukrainians.
“We consider it necessary to clearly state: any pressure on the owners of the club where the performance was to take place and on Ukrainian guests, as well as public displays of aggression and incitement of hatred, are absolutely unacceptable and must be categorically condemned. The action, which took place on the evening of February 14 in front of the club building, can be regarded as a direct threat to the Ukrainian guests of Budva. We call on the Montenegrin authorities to promptly respond to this incident and do everything to ensure the safety of Ukrainians living in Montenegro," the Ukrainian embassy said in a statement.
Also, the concert was previously canceled in the capital of Serbia, Belgrade. For an official reason – because of the poor health of frontman Sergei Mikhalok, however, this may be due to the fact that dissatisfaction with the event was expressed in the nationalist movement Doors of the Srpske.
“The frontman of this group, Sergei Mikhalok, is recognizable as an enemy of Russia and a supporter of the Kyiv Maidan. He is known for writing the song "Warriors of Light", which became practically the anthem of the coup d'état in Ukraine in 2014," the movement said in a statement.