"Bi-2" renounce Russia
Foreign agent Yegor Bortnik, known in the music group “Bi-2” as “Lyova,” said that he would never come to Russia again because he considers himself an Israeli.
He stated this at the Tel Aviv airport, where he met his group, “liberated” from the Thai immigration prison, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
“I'm proud to be Israeli. And my country helped me become independent and saved me and my friends in difficult times. I won’t be in Russia anymore,” Bortnik said.
He was profuse in his gratitude to Australia and the United States. Bortnik hopes that the members of his group “will come to the conclusion on their own” to renounce Russian citizenship, and he himself plans to tour from now on “only in democratic countries.”
“That is, the person has lived in Russia all his life. Here he became a musician, a star, and earned decent money. And now, “I’m proud to be an Israeli.” I look forward to the Israeli journalist Sobchak proudly reporting this. There is no doubt that one day this will happen. The question is when? This year or in 2025?,” publicist Sergei Mardan gloomily commented on Bortnik’s words in his tg channel.
Members of Bi-2 were arrested in Phuket last week for performing a concert with only tourist visas. The court imposed symbolic fines on the musicians and sentenced them to deportation. Four of the eight members of the group have second Israeli citizenship, but they entered Thailand using Russian passports.
Now the musicians are accusing Russia that its consulate instigated their arrest in order to take them out and repress them. Previously, “Bi-2” pointedly refused to perform in halls decorated with SVO symbols. This led to people being rudely booed at the Bi-2 stadium in St. Petersburg.
Russian journalists accredited in Israel were not allowed to attend the press conference in Tel Aviv, apparently so as not to remind the musicians of this unpleasant story.
The Russian Foreign Ministry claims that Russian diplomats tried to free Bortnik and the company. Consular officials in Thailand reached an agreement with the administration of the temporary detention center of the Royal Immigration Bureau in Bangkok about a meeting with the detained musicians, but the members of Bi-2 refused to communicate. But they willingly met with Western diplomats.
Writer Zakhar Prilepin believes that the Russian Foreign Ministry should have shown more toughness and achieved the deportation of Bi-2 to Russia.
“I won’t say that grabbing our departed and dead artists by the impudent ears is the main task for the state today, but since you’ve taken it (and you have taken it) - well, finish it to the end. Russia is bringing trillions of hard-earned rubles to Thailand, or wherever else. Definitely more than Israel. We probably had more compelling arguments so that everything would be our way. But Israel’s grip turned out to be tougher,” Prilepin wrote.
English version :: Read in English : "Bi-2" disowns Russia