Yuri Shevchuk has been making anti-Putin comments for years, but because of his stature in Russia, sort of their Bob Dylan, he has never been arrested. If convicted of this charge, he faces a fine of 50,000 rubles (about $800). If he's charged and convicted a second time he'd be looking at serious jail time.
A few weeks ago Shevchuk and his band DDT refused to perform in Tyumen at a venue with a pro-war Z symbol on the front of the building.
The video above is Shevchuk with U2 at a concert in Moscow in 2010.
Source: Moscow Times
A Russian rock legend has been charged with “discrediting” the Russian military after making an anti-war speech at a show in central Russia.
Yury Shevchuk, the frontman of 1980s rock band DDT, is already known for his direct confrontations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, support for anti-Kremlin activist collective Pussy Riot and opposition to Russia’s annexation of Crimea.
“The motherland, my friends, is not the president’s ass that has to be slobbered and kissed all the time,” Shevchuk told an 8,000-strong crowd at DDT’s concert in Ufa Wednesday.
“The motherland is an impoverished babushka at the train station selling potatoes.”
