Actor Nazarov was fined for the song “Do you want Russian wars?”

A court in Moscow fined actor Dmitry Nazarov 50,000 rubles for the video “Do you want Russian wars?”. This was reported by “Mediazona” from the courtroom.

The video was published on Nazarov’s YouTube channel on the third day of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. In the video, together with his wife Olga Vasilyeva, he sings an anti-war song of his own composition.

The court considered it a discredit to the Russian army. Russian courts consider any anti-war speeches or reports about the participation of Russian troops in war crimes to be discreditable.

Nazarov was not present at the court session, but conveyed through his lawyer that he does not admit guilt.

Since the beginning of the war, Nazarov and Vasilyeva regularly publish videos on the Internet in which they read anti-war poems. In January 2023, they were fired from the Chekhov Moscow Art Institute. Later, they said that the director of the theater, Konstantin Khabensky, demanded that they resign in order to protect the 29 employees of the theater from mobilization.

Also, Nazarov was removed from filming in the new adaptation of the novel “12 Chairs”. In the film, which is planned to be released by the end of the year, he was supposed to play the role of Kysa Vorobyaninov.

• After the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Russian authorities began to persecute cultural figures because of their anti-war stance. Many of them were left with positions and platforms for performances, some were forced to go abroad.
• In July 2022, Fontanka published a list of Russian musicians whose performances the authorities consider undesirable in Russia due to their anti-war stance. Almost everyone from the list faced the cancellation of concerts in Russia, some left the country.