The Tverskoy District Court of Moscow imposed a fine of 50,000 rubles on musician Boris Grebenshchikov in an administrative case on “discrediting” the army, Mediazona reports from the courtroom.
The reason for initiating the case was Grebenshchikov’s interview with Israeli Channel 9 in May 2022, in which he called Russia’s actions in Ukraine fascism. “I never had fascists among my friends. This is fascism – the destruction of one nation by another on the basis of nationality, ”said the musician.
In court, the musician's representative said that he "expressed his personal opinion, he does not have access to any channels, especially Channel 9" and makes "every effort to ensure that the material is removed."
In May last year, the musician said in an interview that "a long time ago" he left Russia and moved to live in the UK.
In January 2023, it was reported that State Duma deputy Sultan Khamzaev wrote a denunciation to Grebenshchikov in the UK with a request to check his statements for "discrediting" the Russian army. The MP also claimed that the musician "promotes terrorist activities" as he raised funds to help Ukraine.
Because of Grebenshchikov's statements, which condemned the attack on Ukraine, Radio Russia and Radio Kultura took off the air his Aerostat program, which had been broadcast since 2005. In June 2022, producer Mikhail Kozyrev said that Nashe Radio planned to release the program, but they abandoned this idea after a call from the prosecutor's office.